Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Kenny did raise the first issue with me. As he will recall, I was not aware of it either. I understand the situation was changed in that regard to facilitate litigation. Action has been taken since then to highlight the matter. A further process exists through which aspects of legislation that curtail freedom of information are examined by the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service and reported to the Department of Finance and the Information Commissioner. The latter has considered the reports made by each Department and Minister to the joint committee. I have outlined the areas of non-disclosure in my Department, which pertain to the National Archives Act 1986, and I understand that the commissioner has no problem with these because the information in question is usually withheld for security reasons.

On the second issue, an internal appeal to my Department costs €75 at most, while an appeal to the Information Commissioner costs €150. The cost for medical card holders is €25 and €50, respectively. Appeals concerning personal information are entirely exempt from those fees. An appeal to the Information Commissioner is a quasi-judicial process, the completion of which can take many months involving a considerable amount of work. The procedure followed by my Department is a fair reflection of the system. The cost of a first appeal is €15 and there is no cost for personal information. As the cost of processing is in the order of €425, I do not think the charge is unreasonable.

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