Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

That is true of most of the questions asked by Deputy Ó Caoláin. Specific recommendations about appeals, access and other issues that have been made by the Information Commissioner are for the Department of Finance and a question to that Department will elicit considerations it has on them.

In my Department, designated senior people act as freedom of information adjudicators. Freedom of information requests come into a central location and a designated officer circulates the information to designated persons in the various sections. The information is supplied from the sections for co-ordination purposes and a reply is issued. The Department does all it can to provide as much information as possible. In my Department, only one or two areas are excluded from the archives Act of 1935 and all the other information is permissible. If it has the information, it is provided through an individual who acts as co-ordinator. That is how the system works.

An issue arises with regard to cases where records either do not exist or cannot be found. The Information Commissioner made a number of recommendations that are relevant to my Department and other Departments. My Department closely follows the records management guidelines set out by the Department of Finance and has access to the services of a fully qualified archivist to advise on all aspects of records management. Of a total of 1,274 applications, the number of cases where records could not be found stands in single figures. When processing requests the Department follows the guidelines set out in the FOI decision makers manual. It is seldom that the relevant officials are not able to provide the information requested, particularly if there are no barriers to such information being released.

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