Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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375. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to outline the number of occasions since the start of 2014 in which the Secretary General of his Department has been involved in the clearing or approval of material for release under freedom of information legislation. [11792/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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As provided for in Section 20 of the Freedom of Information Act, my Department has delegated decision making functions to civil servants of grades not lower than Higher Executive Officer (and other equivalent grades). Internal review decision making functions are delegated to grades not lower than Assistant Principal Officer (and other equivalent grades). The internal review decision maker is, of course, always a more senior member of the staff than the original decision maker.

The Secretary General of my Department has no involvement in the decision making process.