Major delays in FOI Act requests admitted

An increased workload and insufficient staff are causing major delays in processing requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI), the Information Commissioner said yesterday. Publishing his second annual report, Mr Kevin Murphy admitted it was taking up to a year to carry out reviews of cases, typically where public bodies have refused access to records.

Mr Murphy also noted that the Revenue Commissioners topped the list in the number of review cases undertaken by his office, and spoke of the "cultural" problems that organisations such as the Revenue had to overcome, moving out of a past in which "everything was confidential".

In general, the commissioner warned against any tendency towards failing to keep proper records, saying there was "anecdotal evidence" that this was happening. It should be part of the stated duties of any public servant to keep records, he said, and it would be a "disaster" if adequate record-keeping were to lapse, because of fear of disclosure.

He pledged to reduce the delays in carrying out reviews, but blamed the current backlog on the increasing numbers of bodies amenable to investigation by his office as well as growing use of the FOI Act by the media and the general public.

More than 11,000 FOI requests were made to public bodies in 1999, according to the report, and figures suggest the total this year will be 15,000. The Irish Medicines Board topped the table of requests to civil service and related organisations last year, followed by the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Health and Children, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs.

Among the health boards, the North Western topped the list of requests, ahead of the Eastern, Mid-Western and Western. The most frequently queried hospitals - designated as public bodies last October - were Tallaght and Beaumont in Dublin.

Journalists accounted for 14 per cent of FOI requests, staff of public bodies 10 per cent, business interests 10 per cent, members of the Oireachtas 2 per cent, and others 64 per cent.

After the Revenue Commissioners, the Department of Justice was the subject of most reviews, with the Department of Education and the Eastern Health Board in joint third place.

Among the cases in which the office ruled that information should not be released was a request made by an unsuccessful applicant in a competition held by the Local Appointments Commissioners, who sought information on another candidate.

The Act allows the release of personal information where public interest outweighs the right of the subject to privacy.