Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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456. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the legal fees incurred on FOI requests received by his Department; the staff hours involved in the processing of FOI requests for the past three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9679/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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During the period specified by the Deputy, no legal fees were incurred in relation to FOI requests received in my Department.

In relation to the staff hours involved in processing FOI requests, as the Deputy will be aware, the first five hours spent by staff in search, retrieval, scheduling and copying, do not attract fees; this time forms part of the duties of officials with responsibility for FOI and is not monitored separately.

All requests during the period specified by the Deputy where search, retrieval and scheduling time exceeded five hours, and the staff hours involved in the processing of these FOI requests, are set out in the following table: