Our department is a very de-centralised one, with offices all around the State, so we need about 100 freedom of information officers to deal with the various queries. I have to do a number of things. I would act as interdepartmental representative on a working group which meets once a month to discuss issues arising out of requests for information, and I am the person other officers within this department come to for clarification. I also deal with requests from the public for non-personal information.
Journalists, for example, might contact me for information on how a particular decision was reached, or some policy matter. Under the Act you have to make a written request. I have to contact them saying I've received the request within two weeks of getting it. Then I have to locate the files, which can take a while. Then I have to read the files and check for information which can't be given out.
This can also be very time consuming: you might get a file with a good 500 pages in it and you have to go through the whole thing. But legally the information has to be available four weeks after the request has been made.
It usually really does take the full four weeks, which can be the source of complaint - particularly from journalists who generally want everything yesterday!
We haven't really had a deluge of requests for information since the legislation was implemented last April. But that could be because a lot of information which people request doesn't have to be requested officially. If people want to have something from their personal file, they can just go into the local office and ask for it. People may want to retrieve something they had to send in to make a claim, or they might want to see an interview with a particular welfare officer. With something like this, you don't usually have to go through the official procedure and you can avoid all the bureaucracy. Generally you would discuss with the person exactly what it was he or she was looking for, in order to speed up the process. Under the Act we can't seek a motive: we are legally obliged to refrain from asking people why they want to see something. The Freedom of Information Act can also protect sensitive information, so there may be information in his own file which a person can't have. This is third party information - information that tells something about someone else. For instance, if a man is claiming for himself and his family, there may be information his wife gave us about herself. The file may contain a receipt for some part-time work she did, and that wouldn't go out to him under his request - only information he gave us about the wife.
Ultimately the Freedom of Information Act will be a very useful piece of legislation. The Act helps promote a more open culture and people can find out how and why certain decisions are being made on their behalf.
People can object to our decision to exempt certain information, in which case there is an internal review. If the person still isn't satisfied with the decision, he or she can take the case to the Information Commission, which can override any decision made by a department.
The most interesting thing about this job is that it is so new; it's a continual learning process and I am very busy. The worst part is the drudgery you have to put up with at times - ploughing through files full of information which isn't always all that riveting!
In an interview with Jackie Bourke
