Written answers
Wednesday, 4 December 2019
Department of Finance
Freedom of Information Data
Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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99. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of freedom of information requests made to his Department in each of the years 2016 to 2018 and to date in 2019; the number of requests fully denied by reason; the number of requests partially denied; the number of appeals made against denials; the number of such appeals upheld; the number of such appeals rejected; the number of requests that required a fee; the amount received for freedom of information requests in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50597/19]
Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware, cause for the denial or release of records under FOI is not always based on a single exemption. Multiple exemptions may well be applied to an individual FOI, each bearing equal validity.
I can advise the Deputy that while my Department captures data on the number of requests granted, part granted and refused, my Department does not track statistics on these by reason.
The details of the number of FOI requests processed by my Department in each of the years 2016 to 2018 and to date in 2019 are provided in the following table:
- | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
---|---|---|---|---|
FOI Requests Processed | 405 | 406 | 384 | 407 |
FOI Requests Refused in Full | 70 | 109 | 80 | 75 |
FOI Requests Part Granted | 162 | 150 | 206 | 174 |
Internal Reviews Processed | 8 | 10 | 10 | 14 |
Internal Reviews which upheld the original decision | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7 |
Internal Reviews which Annulled /Varied the original decision | 2 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
FOI Requests where S&R Fees Collected | 6 | 4 | 3 | 5 |
Total figure of S&R Fees Collected | € 230.00 | € 530.92 | € 311.36 | €972 |
Notes
- Some FOI requests are withdrawn by requestors, handled outside of the FOI process or transferred to another Department where applicable.
- "S&R" above denotes where a Search and Retrieval fee was collected.
- Internal Reviews are carried out by a more senior manager based in an alternate policy section from the original decision maker on the FOI request.
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