Fees blamed for fall in use of FoI Act by media

Use of the Freedom of Information Act by journalists has dropped to an all-time low, according to Information Commissioner Emily O'Reilly.

Fewer than 1,000 Freedom of Information requests were made by journalists last year, compared to over 3,000 in 2001, a trend Ms O'Reilly blamed on the introduction of fees in 2003.

Delivering her third annual report as Information Commissioner, Ms O'Reilly said ways would have to be found to encourage the media to make greater use of the Act. Overall use of the Act remains static, except for a surge of applications to the Department of Education from former residents of institutions.

Ms O'Reilly described the continued exclusion of the Garda Síochána and other public bodies from the remit of the Freedom of Information Act as "quite extraordinary". Expressing disappointment that a number of bodies remain outside the scope of the Act nine years after it was introduced, she also singled out the Garda Ombudsman, the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and Refugee Appeals Tribunal, the Central Bank, the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority, the 33 Vocational Education Committees, the Residential Institutions Redress Board and the Central Applications Office.

Ms O'Reilly said she didn't think the Garda had anything to fear from the Freedom of Information Act. The British police were covered by similar legislation, she pointed out, and "the heavens haven't fallen in".

The number of Freedom of Information requests made to public bodies last year was 14,616, a 16 per cent increase on the previous year but 21 per cent down on 2003. Last year's increase is almost entirely accounted for by applications to the Department of Education for records by people applying to the Residential Institutions Redress Board.

Ms O'Reilly said the introduction of fees had caused a significant change in user behaviour. Before fees were introduced, Freedom of Information requests were split evenly between personal information and non-personal information (sought by, for example, journalists). Now, three times as many requests for personal information are received compared to non-personal information.

She criticised the "extraordinary" behaviour of the State forestry body Coillte, who had argued it was a private company to avoid disclosing information.

She said Coillte had failed to mention the binding judgment of the European Court of Justice which totally rejected its claim to be a private company, she said. "It was a perfectly reasonably request and yet they fought it in this bizarre way," she said.

The Office of the Information Commissioner reviewed 447 Freedom of Information appeals last year, leaving a backlog of 339 cases. Ms O'Reilly said this represented a significant reduction in the backlog, with a further improvement expected this year.