Council withholds a letter it had already sent

I have read many letters and articles in the Irish Examiner concerning the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in recent years.

Initially many of these were positive but after the act was amended in 2003 many began to express frustration with high fees and restrictive interpretations of the acts by public bodies.

Recently I received the most bizarre and Kafkaesque FOI response from Kildare County Council.

Incredibly, the council replied to an FOI request and refused me access to a letter that they had written to me some months ago. Fascinated, I opened my files and dug it out. I am now fully informed of the contents of the letter that they initially wrote to me and to which they subsequently refused me access under the FOIA.

I wrote to the council asking for any possible explanation for this ridiculous position. Surprise, surprise... there has been no response.

Joseph Bergin

Caragh Green

Naas

Co Kildare