Use of the Freedom of Information Act jumped 12.5 per cent last year, according to the Information Commissioner's annual report published today.
Some 15,000 requests were made under the act to public bodies last year, the report shows.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Information Commissioner Mr Kevin Murphy said new procedures introduced this year mean that from April 1st onwards requests should be dealt within three months.
Review applications of Freedom of Information Act (FOI) requests are being dealt with on a current basis and will no longer be added to the existing waiting lists.
However, an increased workload and insufficient staff are continuing to cause major delays in processing the backlog of reviews of failed requests under the FoI, the Information Commissioner said today. Of the 445 cases completed this year 437 were closed outside of their respective time limits.
Mr Murphy said he intended to decide any current reviews within the three-month time frame for completion. Cases submitted prior to April 1st will be dealt with in parallel with current cases.
Mr Murphy holds his office under the FoI Act and his role is to examine appeals where requests under the Act have been refused or only partially granted.
Publishing his fourth annual report, Mr Murphy said usage of the FoI Act has continued to grow, with 15,428 requests made to public bodies in 2001 - a 12.5 per cent increase over 2000.
Fifty per cent of the 14,268 FoI requests dealt with by public bodies so far were granted in full and a further 20 per cent were part-granted. Fifteen per cent of requests were refused.
Mr Murphy said these release rates were not as favourable as those in Australia, whose legislation is broadly similar to our own. There, the refusal rate is between seven and eight per cent.
However, Mr Murphy said the higher refusal rates may be explained by the fact that Ireland is still a relative newcomer to FoI.