FoI expenses request takes 4 months

A FULL breakdown of government expenses requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FoI) took almost four months to obtain.

First submitted to all 15 government departments in October of last year, while some responded to the request within the legal four-week timeframe, it took the Department of Health almost four months to release the information.

Analysis of the provided figures revealed departments forked out nearly €100 million on expenses such as mileage, taxis, phone bills, travel, meals and accommodation in 2006 and 2007. In 2006, expenditure across all departments topped €46m, while in 2007 it was approximately €45m.