Written answers

Wednesday, 4 December 2019

Department of An Taoiseach

Freedom of Information Data

Photo of Barry CowenBarry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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81. To ask the Taoiseach 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; and the amount received for freedom of information requests in tabular form. [50604/19]

Photo of Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The details requested by the Deputy in relation to FOI requests received by my Department are set out in the tables beneath. Regarding records part granted or refused, material is redacted for a variety of reasons, as provided for in the FOI Act.

Examples of grounds commonly used by FOI decision makers in my Department for withholding material include where it is necessary to withhold personal information such as personal email addresses or mobile phone numbers, where Government records less than 5 years old are concerned, where the material, if released, could have an adverse impact on the international relations or the economic interests of the State, and where commercially sensitive information is involved.

2016 2017 2018 2019
Total number of requests received  275 344 490 466
Granted  55 75 111 75
Part granted  138 145 243 192
Refused  54 35 46 24
No records exist  11 65 70 81
Transferred  1 8 3 8
Withdrawn  15 11 13 27
Handled outside FOI  1 5 4 3
Ongoing  0 0 0 56
Total number of internal review (IR) requests 10 13 19 5
IR requests upheld 5 8 17 4
IR requests varied 3 4 1 1
IR requests annulled 0 1 1 0
IR requests withdrawn 2 0 0 0
Requests that required search and retrieval fees 0 0 2 2
Total amount of search and retrieval fees received 0 0 €467.84 €820
Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) reviews  3 3 3 1
Upheld by OIC 0 2 1 1
Varied by OIC 1 0 0 0
Annulled by OIC 0 1 0 0
Withdrawn after referral to OIC 2 0 1 0
Ongoing at OIC 0 0 1 0

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