Seanad debates
Tuesday, 4 March 2003
Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed).
The issue of fees, on which I do not have a strong view, is interesting. If people were simply being levied with a €20 fee, it is not something about which I would become particularly upset. However, there will be a difficulty where a person must pay €20 for the first application. If one must make several applications, obviously, there will be multiple charges. If one appeals to the Department, one must pay again and, if one appeals to the commissioner, one must pay again. My understanding of the current system is that only newspapers are asked to pay large fees, which is reasonable. They probably go in for the most wide-ranging of applications and, if it is necessary to oblige civil servants to do a huge amount of work, it is reasonable to get bodies such as newspapers to pay a reasonable fee. I am not particularly exercised by the €20 charge, though if it militated against people making applications or requests it should be looked at again.
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