Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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178. To ask the Minister for Finance the legal fees incurred on freedom of information, 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. [9678/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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In response to the Deputy's question, my Department has not incurred any legal fees on FOI requests.  The Department's internal Legal Unit provides ad-hoc legal support to Deciding Officers and Internal Reviewers in relation to FOI where appropriate.

With regard to the staff hours involved in the processing of FOI requests for the past three years, my Department does not collect centralised information in this regard. However, since the introduction of the FOI Act 2014, the Department has experienced an increase in the number of FOIs received; Deciding Officers in the Department processed 220 FoI Requests in 2013, 165 in 2014, 413 in 2015 and 405 FOI requests in 2016 (an increase of 84% on the 2013 figure), which has naturally resulted in an increase in the number of staff hours required to fulfil the Department's responsibilities in relation to the effective delivery of our obligations under FOI Act in the past three years.