Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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483. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of occasions since the start of 2014 in which the Secretary General of her Department has been involved in the clearing or approval of material for release under freedom of information legislation. [11803/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the procedures followed by my Department in the processing of Freedom of Information requests are governed by the provisions of the Freedom of Information Acts 1997 and 2014.

A deciding officer at the rank of Assistant Principal Officer rank or occasionally at the rank of Higher Executive Officer is normally assigned to each request. In instances where the request covers more than one division of the Department a freedom of information file issues to each relevant deciding officer for decision. In cases where records are part-granted or refused, the requester is provided with the relevant legislative provisions under which the records are withheld. The requested is notified of a right of appeal within the Department as outlined in the Act. The appeal is conducted by a Principal Officer within the Department who will undertake an independent review of the request. Upon receipt of the appeal decision the request is afforded a further right of appeal to the Information Commissioner.

Where a request is submitted in respect of the records directly held in the Office of the Secretary General, staff of that office will bring the matter to the attention of the Secretary General (Acting) so that he can fully comply with the requirements of the Act.

As a matter of good administrative practice, FOI requests in respect of documentation held in my Department, which upon release is likely to be of significant public interest are brought to the attention of both my Office and the Secretary General's office for information. However, neither I nor the Secretary General act as either a deciding officer or an appeal officer in respect of these requests. For the avoidance of any doubt, I should emphasise that the decisions of a deciding officer or appeal officer are final and neither I nor the Secretary General have any role in such decisions.