Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Wallace and I have that in common anyway.

On his point in relation to a freedom of information request, there is an economic cost involved in meeting freedom of information requests. I am sure what the Department told the Deputy is correct, that it would take four civil servants that period of time to meet his request which means there is other work that cannot be done by them. As a result, it is reasonable to outline and charge applicants a portion of that cost. However, as the Deputy will be aware, we have brought in a minimum threshold and if the request takes no longer than five hours to search for, it will be dealt with free of charge.

The freedom of information legislation, despite the point made by Deputy Wallace, has yielded to him and others huge insights into both good things and challenges in our country.

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