Mr. Gavin Sheridan:

There are several issues connected with search and retrieval fees. First, once a person puts in a request an estimate comes back from the public authority. That estimate may often mean the death of the FOI request because it is so large. We have been submitting them fairly regularly for three years and I have noticed that the fee estimates have started ramping up in the past 12 months. I am not sure whether a decision was made to start doing that. It is worth noting that when the search and retrieval estimate comes in and the FOI request fails, that fee is not collected. I have received search and retrieval fee estimates of €29,000 for what I thought was relatively innocuous information that could easily have been retrieved. The ability to argue one's case around the search and retrieval fee estimate is fairly limited in the legislation. One can try to appeal it to the Information Commissioner. It is not entirely clear whether one should pay the €75 internal review fee to see whether the fee was there or whether it should or should not be there. Should we pay the €75 to get the internal review to see if the fee is there? I have received various answers, even from the Office of the Information Commissioner, as to whether the €75 charge should be there at all for that process. It is not clear whether it should be charged.

Search and retrieval fees are a huge barrier. I know from the legislation that the Oireachtas has considered adopting the UK-style cap on search and retrieval fees. In the UK, upfront fees have been considered, but the decision was not to charge them. It has been decided that there should be free time and if a request takes longer than that time and the fee is £600 or above, the request fails. I would not be averse to that. Search and retrieval fees are becoming quite high and often I do not think this is legitimate. We could have some provision to limit the process. The legislation has exemptions which work really well if they are applied correctly. For example, section 10(1)(c) is a volume issue; one has asked for too much. Under section 10(2) I can say I am prepared to narrow the scope to reduce the volume.

Sometimes when we receive a fee estimate we are told it will take 40 hours to search and retrieve this information. How is that calculated? If the FOI officer is providing reasonable assistance, as he or she is obliged to do under the Act, it must depend on how the record is held. Is it held efficiently? Do I have to pay for an inefficiently held record in a search and retrieval process? That is not fair. If the records are held efficiently it should not be that hard to get them. Search and retrieval fees reinforce the notion that accessing information is a privilege rather than a right. I have to pay for access to something. While I accept that there might be fees involved, I do not think those fees should be prohibitive.