Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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639.To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when a decision will be made on an FOI request (details supplied); if he is aware that the delays in receiving the initial response from his Department and also the additional information requested based on an agreed amendment to the original terms of the request represent breaches of the Act in respect of statutory timelines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25121/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Under the FOI Acts, FOI decision makers are required to review FOI requests and independently reach decisions, based on the provisions within the Act, on what records can be released, refused or partially released subject to some redaction.

I understand that, in this case, the FOI decision maker sought to refine the scope of the FOI request in line with the provisions of the FOI Act before issuing the decision letter including the schedule of records indicating those records that were approved for release, those withheld and those that were redacted. I also understand that this request is now at the “Internal Review” stage in the FOI process. Please be assured that this is now receiving attention and a decision on this review will issue as soon as possible.

Finally, I should advise that the Department has experienced a 41% increase in the number of FOI requests it has received in 2024 over the same period as last year. The number of FOI requests received in 2023 was 49% higher than 2022 which in turn was a record year for number of FOI requests managed by the Department.