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Information Commissioner calls for incoming government to 'improve' Freedom of Information Act

Peter Tyndall was commenting as he published his officer’s annual report for 2019.

THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER has called on the incoming government to review the Freedom of Information Act, saying there is “considerable room for improvement” to the legislation.

Publishing his officer’s annual report for 2019, Peter Tyndall called for the Act to be extended to all bodies in receipt of significant public funding.

Under the Act, which was last updated in 2014,members of the public have the right to access information held by a wide array of public bodies.

Any member of the public can use the Act to access records created by a public body, government departments and officials, or local authorities in the course of their duties, as well as information held by these bodies which relate to them personally.

Individuals can also use the Act to have information about themselves edited by a public body if it is incorrect, incomplete, or misleading.

According to the report, 39,904 requests were made to public bodies last year – the highest ever number and an increase of 8% on 2018.

The number of requests made has increased by 42% in the five years since the Act was updated in 2014, when it was extended to a range of new bodies and the initial cost of submitting a request was removed.

The majority of requests, 23,158 (58% of the total), were made for personal reasons, with 16,723 (41%) made for non-personal reasons and 473 (1%) for mixed reasons.

More than half of requests (51%) were made by clients of public bodies, with journalists (23%) the next highest cohort. The remainder were made by Oireachtas members, staff of public bodies and ‘other’ groups or individuals.

The highest number of requests were made to the HSE, followed by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, St James’s Hospital, and Tusla.

But Tyndall, who independently reviews FOI decisions made by public bodies, said that despite suggesting a formal review of the Act in 2017, no such review has taken place.

“I remain of the view that there are certain aspects of the Act that would benefit from amendment,” he writes in this year’s report.

“It seems to me that the formation of a new Government in 2020 presents an opportunity for commencing a review.”

He recommended the introduction of an administrative tribunal to consider appeals against his decisions, which would be more cost effective and less resource-intensive than court challenges.

He also called for the Act to be extended to all bodies in receipt of significant public funding and a revision of the process for resolving disputes as to whether certain bodies are covered by the Act.

Court decision

In his report, Tyndall also referenced a decision by the Court of Appeal about whether public bodies had an obligation to justify why they refuse FOI requests.

In that case, journalist Gavin Sheridan had sought the release of information relating to a contract issued by the Minister for Communications Energy and Natural Resources for managing fibre optic networks across Ireland.

Sheridan’s request for information had been rejected by the Minister, and he subsequently made a successful appeal to the Information Commissioner.

But the court later ruled that the Commissioner had approached Sheridan’s appeal incorrectly by presuming the records should have been disclosed.

The case was appealed to the Supreme Court earlier this year, when counsel for the Commissioner argued that public bodies could no longer have to explain their reasons for refusing records under the Act.

In his report, Tyndall said the ruling has impacted both his office’s work and the application of the Act by public bodies.

“The decision has the potential to have a profound effect on the way my office processes reviews and, indeed, on the way the FOI regime operates in Ireland,” he said.

“With respect to the court’s decision I felt compelled to appeal the judgement to the Supreme Court and we await the decision of the court.”

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    Mute David Naylor
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    Jun 11th 2019, 1:01 PM

    Autoglass Windscreen Repair’s stock has risen significantly since..

    76
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    Mute Chris Linehan
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    Jun 11th 2019, 4:16 PM

    @David Naylor: Ridiculously useless fact: over here they’re called Carglass. Same jingle and all.

    15
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    Mute David Naylor
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    Jun 11th 2019, 5:22 PM

    @Chris Linehan: it’s a joke man

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    Mute Chris Linehan
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    Jun 11th 2019, 6:10 PM

    @David Naylor: Christ. My comment was as described and just a useless fact referencing the English in their Germany based branding and their German in their Ireland based branding. Now that you’ve gone and failed to recognise the lighthearted banter and then had to identify you’re comment as the obvious joke that it was, followed by me writing this comment, means between the two of us, we’ve now sucked all the craic out of this. Sound.

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    Mute William Tallon
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    Jun 11th 2019, 2:12 PM

    There’s no scientific evidence that this event has anything to do with global warming. Giant hailstones have been recorded throughout history when the climate was both warmer and colder than it is today. It’s nothing new. It’s weather. It neither proves nor disproves if global warming is happening. For example…

    ‘On July 12, 1984, a powerful hailstorm pummeled Munich. This ferocious hailstorm travelled at 60 to 70 km/h and left some 70,000 homes with roof damage; seriously dinged more than 200,000 automobiles and about 150 aircraft; and injured more than 400 people…’

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    Mute james boylan
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    Jun 11th 2019, 2:39 PM

    @William Tallon:
    This is true. One time I was in Bavaria about 30 years ago, the same thing had happened. I saw a good number of cars that had been badly damaged by hailstones.

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    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
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    Jun 11th 2019, 5:14 PM

    @William Tallon: nobody is saying these kind of weather events didn’t happen before, it’s the frequency that’s a concern

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    Mute FlopFlipU
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    Jun 11th 2019, 6:12 PM

    @Dave O’Keeffe: when did that happen in recent times apart from this occasion

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    Mute Sean
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    Jun 11th 2019, 7:26 PM

    @FlopFlipU: in 1984

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    Mute james boylan
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    Jun 11th 2019, 8:44 PM

    @FlopFlipU:
    These events happen every year around the world.

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    Mute ed w
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    Jun 11th 2019, 2:05 PM

    you know that’s how the day after tomorrow starts

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    Mute Mike Phelan
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    Jun 11th 2019, 1:23 PM

    Zerbrochene Windschutzscheibe, Überflutungen und Chaos!
    - exactly as you might exclaim at the broken windscreen yourself!

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    Mute Brian Flavin
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    Jun 11th 2019, 1:31 PM

    Same happen golf ball size hailstones in Australia last Christmas as mine friend pictures send me , blame global warming

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    Mute Sean
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    Jun 11th 2019, 7:26 PM

    @Brian Flavin: is this a telegram?

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    Mute The Mc
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    Jun 11th 2019, 1:38 PM

    The day after tomorrow. Global warming and no1 gives a dam..

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    Mute Marianne
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    Jun 11th 2019, 2:04 PM

    More like HELL.STONES..WAKE UP LEO CLIMATE CHANGE GETTING SERIOUS NOW

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    Mute brendan H
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    Jun 12th 2019, 3:28 AM

    @Marianne: Calm down its just weather. Its happened before lots of times in history.

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Jun 12th 2019, 2:36 AM

    Hello, Climate Change… Will August bring them lightening strikes and September hurricanes…

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