Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

One of the Minister's predecessors, who is now a European Commissioner, undertook a significant review of the FOI system. There are still issues with certain public bodies refusing requests or redacting large volumes of information. Sometimes, it comes out through appeals that this was done incorrectly. There is a view that this is done based on trying to deter people in the hope they will not appeal, in which case the decision is likely to be overturned. I was dealing with one request recently and it was kind of new to me. The request was not submitted by me, but I was asked my views on it. The public body concerned said it could not release the information under FOI because one of the requesters had a connection to the information being sought. They were told it was a conflict of interest. That was bizarre and not something I had seen before. I am not aware of any provision in the legislation that states information can only be released to disinterested parties. Is the Minister?

See this speech in context