Dáil Éireann - Volume 625 - 19 October, 2006 - Written Answers.


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Dáil Éireann - Volume 625 - 19 October, 2006

Written Answers. - Freedom of Information.

Mr. Quinn Mr. Quinn

2180

Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Defence the number of requests under the Freedom of Information Acts received by his Department in each year from 2002 to 2005 and to date in 2006; the amount of money received in application fees [2180] for each year; the amount of money received in information retrieval fees for each year; the percentage of requests coming from journalists in each year; the percentage of retrieval fees that were charged to journalists rather than members of the public; the percentage of requests from journalists for which a retrieval fee was charged; the percentage of requests from members of the public for which a retrieval fee was charged; the average retrieval fee charged; the median retrieval fee charged; the number of cases in which the retrieval fee was waived; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33709/06]

Mr. O’Dea Mr. O’Dea

Mr. O’Dea: The Department of Defence, the Army Pensions Board, and the Defence Forces were designated as separate and distinct bodies under the Freedom of Information Acts 1997 & 2003.

In October 2005 the Government decided to extend the application of FOI legislation to include Coiste an Asgard and the Civil Defence Board. The necessary regulations to provide for the extension of FOI to these bodies were signed in May 2006. To date, neither of these bodies has received a Freedom of Information request.

The information sought by the Deputy is as follows:

Department of Defence
	No. of Requests	Requests from journalists	Application Fees Received	Search & Retrieval Fees
		%	€	€
2002	131	27	0	0
2003	106	26	180	291.48 1
2004	49	14	320	83.18 2
2005	41	27	205	0
2006 (to date)	44	39	325	0
1. It was not possible to provide a breakdown of these fees in the time available.
2. Fees were in respect of two requests – both from journalists.

Defence Forces
	No. of Requests	Requests from journalists	Application Fees Received	Search & Retrieval Fees
		%	€	€
2002	241	3	0	0
2003	295	4	30	0
2004	202	2	30	0
2005	239	3	75	0
2006 (to date)	149	4	90	263.801
1. Fees are in respect of three requests, all from journalists.

The Army Pensions Board received no Freedom of Information requests during the years 2002-2006 (to date) inclusive.

My Department’s policy with regard to the charging of fees is not related to the category of the requester, but rather to the amount of search, retrieval and photocopying work involved in replying to each request. In a substantial majority of cases processed, no search and retrieval fee was charged.

Dáil Éireann 625 Written Answers. Freedom of Information.

Questions

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