O’Reilly: Scrap FoI fees if they stop access to records

If fees present a barrier to the media accessing records under freedom of information, they should be abolished, ombudsman and information commissioner Emily O’Reilly said yesterday.

Addressing a ‘Right to Know’ conference at the University of Limerick, she said she was glad fees for appeals to her office were coming down. She said there could be savings by cutting down on vexatious requests.

“I know there is a cost, but the fees that are there go nowhere towards paying those costs anyway. It is clear from the start that this was the intention of the Government in 2003, to dampen the ardour of people looking for public information as opposed to their own private records, which are free to access.”