Freedom of Information requests increase 16% despite charges

THE number of applications for access to Government documents under the Freedom of Information Act has increased for the first time since charges were introduced three years ago.

New figures released by the Department of Finance yesterday show that 14,600 FoI requests were received by public bodies in 2005 — a 16% increase on the previous year.

However, the total is still 21% below the number of applications in 2003 when charges were controversially introduced.

The Information Commissioner, Emily O’Reilly, has recently expressed concern that access to information under the FoI Act has been excessively curtailed because of the imposition of fees. They range from €15 for the initial application rising to €150 for an appeal to her office.

The Council of Europe has also called on the Government to reconsider its decision to impose fees as it ran contrary to the principles of the legislation.

The increase in FoI requests last year is largely attributed to the number of applications from former residents of industrial schools who were making claims to the Residential Institutions Redress Board.

According to the latest annual FoI Act report, eight out of 10 applications are made by members of the public with journalists accounting for just 5% and politicians only 1%. Three quarters of all requests relate to people seeking personal information.

Almost 30% of all FoI requests in 2005 were made to the Departments of Education and Health.

Junior Finance Minister Tom Parlon said more than 500 separate organisations were now covered by FoI legislation, since the addition of 130 public bodies last October.

Just over 70% of FoI requests are granted either in full or in part with only 3% of decisions being appealed to the commissioner.