Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 and 10 together.

There were 11 freedom of information requests received in my Department for the first three months of this year as compared with 80 requests received for the same period last year. All requests for the first three months of this year have been acceded to. Eight freedom of information requests were received during February 2004 compared with 29 for the same period last year.

A total of €435 in application fees has been paid to my Department since the introduction of the fee charge in July 2003. All requests received in my Department are processed in accordance with both the 1997 Act and the 2003 Act, and their implementation is kept under constant review.

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