Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will be consulting closely with the Office of the Information Commissioner on an ongoing basis as the review progresses, given the central role that office plays. As the Deputy knows, I announced the review back in June, before any of the recent controversies arose. I want to be clear to the House that the intention of the review, from my perspective, is to strengthen and improve the FOI system; it is certainly not about narrowing the scope of FOI or anything like that. I was of the view, having settled into office, that there was a need for the system to be reviewed. Having said that, it is by no means all bad. There were 41,000 requests processed in 2019. Even last year, 32,652 were processed. The system delivers, in respect of four out of five FOI requests, all or part of the information requested. In about 3% of cases an internal review is sought, and in about 1% of cases a review is sought by the Office of the Information Commissioner.

In 70% of the cases on which the Information Commissioner adjudicates, the decision is in favour of the public body. I agree in that we need to improve matters. I thank the several thousand members of staff who work and operate this system. We need to listen to them as well because they can identify gaps in the system and areas for improvement.

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