Some fear of media requests discerned

Fear of adverse publicity has led civil servants to occasionally come "dangerously close" to treating media requests under the Freedom of Information Act less favourably than others, according to the Information Commissioner.

At a conference in Dublin yesterday to mark the first anniversary of the act, Mr Kevin Murphy said public bodies were sometimes reluctant to disclose information due to a concern "that the requester is going to cause them trouble." This often surfaced in relation to media requests.

"For the most part I have discerned an attitude of respect for the rights of requesters and a desire to apply the act conscientiously," Mr Murphy said. But on occasion an unco-operative attitude surfaced, reflecting fear that disclosure would reflect badly on a public body or people in it, or be distorted or misunderstood.

This attitude showed scant regard for the ability of the general public to interpret information and to reach sensible conclusions, he said. While not wishing to suggest any category of requester was more important than another, he said, the media were able to act on behalf of the community by bringing information about the business of government into the public domain.

The Information Commissioner said he had been asked to review about 10 per cent of requests. While this was an indication that the Act was working well, he said, "we should be aiming for a figure of 5 per cent or less."

The Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Mr Martin Cullen, said of 5,000 FoI requests received, 65 per cent were from members of the public seeking information about themselves. The remainder sought non-personal information and reflected a strong interest in policy issues.