Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 121: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if requests to his Department for information regarding the use of Shannon Airport by United States military forces have been refused under section 24 of the Freedom of Information Act 1997 and if he will make a statement on the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1128/06]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I refer the Deputy to my reply to Question No. 381 of 31 January 2006 which was as follows. The Freedom of Information Acts 1997 and 2003 established an independent process for consideration of freedom of information, FOI, requests. As I have no role in relation to how the provisions of the Acts are applied in specific instances, it would be inappropriate for me to discuss the detail of individual requests. To do so would undermine the independence of designated decision makers and may also be prejudicial to the conduct of the appeals process provided for in the Acts.

As the Deputy will be aware, section 24(2) of the Acts provides for a mandatory exemption for certain types of records relating to security, defence, international relations and matters relating to Northern Ireland and deciding officers are required to refuse records that fall within its scope. I can confirm that the Department replied to two requests during 2005 that included a reference to the use of Shannon Airport. I understand that, while section 24(2) was appropriately applied to both requests, the requesters were provided with access to a number of records that did not come within its provisions.