Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate Mr. Hammond speaking to us today and I would like some observations on one or two specific points. Will the witness comment on fees? Currently, there is no fee attached if people make a request for their own information. There is a fee for non-personal information, with an additional fee charged by some Government bodies where it is felt there is a substantial cost for providing the information. That is called a retrieval fee. Does Mr. Hammond have a comment on those issues or an indication of the level of fees applying for a freedom of information request?

Has the use of freedom of information risen or fallen in recent years with more availability of information through modern technology? Even organisations under the freedom of information umbrella in Ireland have a number of exemptions, and there may be a similar process in Britain. In various pieces of legislation, certain items are exempt from disclosure even as people assume that everything in a Department is subject to the freedom of information process. When new bodies or state organisations or boards are formulated in England, do they come under the freedom of information umbrella from their initiation? The policy in Ireland has been not to burden a new organisation with freedom of information responsibilities and to let them bed in for a year or two before reviewing the position. That may be a decade later. Is there a general view on that issue?