Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am not surprised to hear that the number of requests increased once the fee was waived. Half the concern about the fee was that it would act as a disincentive for people to lodge freedom of information requests. I am certainly not trying to be a champion for vexatious or frivolous requests, such as the one outlined by the Taoiseach about sandwiches and the cost of a bowl of soup, but it is important to note that very many of the requests made are far from frivolous. They are genuine legitimate attempts to seek information which, if we had truly open government, might automatically be in the public domain. The Taoiseach gave the figures on the number of applications received. Did he state the figure of 275 was an increase of 50%?

See this speech in context