Written answers
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Department of Social and Family Affairs
Freedom of Information
5:00 pm
Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 166: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of freedom of information requests received by her Department each month in 2007 and 2008 in tabular format; the number acceded to; the number refused; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5405/09]
Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Department received 370 requests in 2007 and 485 requests in 2008, under the Freedom of Information Acts, 1997 and 2003. A monthly breakdown for these years is contained in the accompanying tables.
The majority of refusals involve cases where the records requested do not exist, the records relate to a third party, or the requestor sought the identity of a person who reported suspected abuse of a social welfare scheme.
The figures for the Social Welfare Appeals Office are returned separately to the Office of the Information Commissioner, and are not included in the first two tables.
| FOI requests received within the Department of Social and Family Affairs | |||||
| Month/Year | Granted | Partial | Refused | Withdrawn | Total |
| Jan-07 | 28 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 42 |
| Feb-07 | 34 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 41 |
| Mar-07 | 26 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 41 |
| Apr-07 | 21 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 32 |
| May-07 | 20 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 34 |
| Jun-07 | 24 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 41 |
| Jul-07 | 23 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 35 |
| Aug-07 | 33 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 41 |
| Sep-07 | 19 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 25 |
| Oct-07 | 24 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 32 |
| Nov-07 | 21 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 36 |
| Dec-07 | 30 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 38 |
| Total | 303 | 78 | 46 | 11 | 438 |
| Jan-08 | 35 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 46 |
| Feb-08 | 37 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 50 |
| Mar-08 | 27 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 37 |
| Apr-08 | 30 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 40 |
| May-08 | 31 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 43 |
| Jun-08 | 34 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 43 |
| Jul-08 | 35 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 52 |
| Aug-08 | 23 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 32 |
| Sep-08 | 40 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 52 |
| Oct-08 | 51 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 66 |
| Nov-08 | 38 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 51 |
| Dec-08 | 34 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 48 |
| Total | 415 | 99 | 34 | 12 | 560 |
| Note: The Information Commissioner has instructed that where a request deals with records held in several areas of the Department, it is counted as one request. The end of year figures returned to the office of the Information Commissioner are amended to reflect this. The above reflect the figures before this reduction. |
| FOI requests received within the Social Welfare Appeals Office | |||||
| Month/Year | Granted | Partial | Refused | Withdrawn | Total |
| Jan-07 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Feb-07 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar-07 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Apr-07 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| May-07 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Jun-07 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Jul-07 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Aug-07 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Sep-07 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Oct-07 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Nov-07 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Dec-07 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| Total | 35 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 50 |
| Jan-08 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Feb-08 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar-08 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Apr-08 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| May-08 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Jun-08 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Jul-08 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Aug-08 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Sep-08 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Oct-08 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Nov-08 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Dec-08 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13 |
| Total | 52 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 66 |
The figures for the Social Welfare Appeals Office are returned separately to the Office of the Information Commissioner, and are not included in the first two tables.
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