Freedom of information: Some public bodies ‘over-reliant’ on external legal advice over requests

The information commissioner received 665 applications to review decisions made by public bodies under the FOI Act in 2023. Photograph: Getty

In his annual report for 2023, Mr Deering said the trend can result in the public not being given access to records to the “greatest extent possible” as provided for under the FOI Act. Four notices were issued to Cork City Council, with one each to Children’s Health Ireland, the Defence Forces, the Department of Health and Trinity College Dublin .

Some 37,437 FOI requests were made to public bodies last year, according to the report, the highest number of requests made since 2019 when 39,904 were received and the second-highest since 2014. Mr Deering told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland the majority of such cases were dealt with very well by staff at the Civil Service or public service bodies, but a number of bodies were now relying on external legal advice.

Source: Law Daily Report (lawdailyreport.net)

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