Charges for making Freedom of Information (FOI) requests have raised just €20,000 this year, the Labour Party revealed today.
Party finance spokeswoman Joan Burton said the fees "have resulted in a dramatic decline in the numbers of requests" and should be scrapped.
A series of parliamentary questions revealed that €20,000 had been raised by Government Departments this year.
"This gives lie to the claim that the charges were introduced to cover the costs of running the FOI scheme. Clearly they were introduced by Fianna Fáil to discourage members of the public from asking awkward questions," Ms Burton said.
"The assault on the principle of freedom of information is one of the worst legacies of a decade of Fianna Fáil/PD government," she added.
The Freedom of Information Act was introduced in 1997 by the Rainbow Coalition.
In 2003 the-then minister for finance Charlie McCreevy introduced minimum charges of €15 per request, €20.95 per hour for time spent retrieving records and four cent per sheet for photocopying.
Mr McCreevy also limited the scope of the legislation by introducing a range of non-disclosure clauses, including an exemption for communications between ministers on matters relating to Government business and an increase in the exemption period for Cabinet records from five to ten years.
The changes were recommended by the High Level Group of Secretaries-General, which Mr McCreevy appointed to review the legislation.
Information Commissioner Emily O'Reilly has been a consistent critic of the charges, and last July she appeared before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service and proposed the scrapping of 48 non-disclosure provisions.
The Fianna Fáil-dominated committee rejected her proposals amid accusations of ministerial interference from Opposition members who supported her recommendations.