Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

The interview continues:

Q. Are there any abuses of the Act?A. I am aware of some cases of frivolous or vexatious requests for information, but these may be dealt with at the public body level.

I am not aware of any case of non-compliance by public bodies although there have been appeals against some of my decisions on a point of law to the High Court. If a public body simply refused to release records after I have decided that release was justified they would be failing in their duty to respect the statutory rights of access, provided for in the FOI Act.

As such they would be open to a complaint to the Ombudsman for misadministration. There is also provision in the FOI Act for the Commissioner to carry out investigations into complaints and submit a special report.

I am coming to the final question in the interview.