Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I checked when I saw these amendments and as I am not advised that there are serious problems with timelines being met in general in the provision of records and on that basis, I am reluctant to accept the amendments. As the Deputy is aware, the Act already provides deadlines for the processing of requests and these are set out. If the request is straightforward, with, for example, no third-party consultation involved, then the public body must respond within a four-week period. I would be concerned that the Deputy's proposal would lead to public bodies actually moving towards a ten-week norm, instead of the four weeks. There are a number of circumstances in which it is permitted to take longer than four weeks. These include cases in which a request may need to be transferred to another public body, which can add two further weeks to what is promised. If third parties are involved, an additional three weeks can be added. If the party does not agree with the release of his or her information in the public interest, then a further two weeks are permitted before release of the records is permitted, to allow for the third party to make an appeal. If a deposit is required, the clock stops until the requestor pays the deposit. The public body may negotiate with the requestor, explaining, for whatever genuine reasons, the reason a request cannot be processed within a particular timeframe and a requestor himself or herself may extend the timeframe for a response, if he or she so chooses. If there is an internal review, the reviewer has three weeks in which to make a decision and even more time is permitted in the event of an appeal to the Information Commissioner. All this is set out, it is working reasonably well, and I do not discern valid reasons for setting new timelines, particularly ones that, for the generality of requests, might actually prolong, rather than shorten the process.