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.