Freedom of Information

The Chief State Solicitor's Office was formally established under the Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924 and is a constituent part of the Office of the Attorney General. The Office of the Attorney General is a public body for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2014.

It should be noted that under Section 42 of the Act, records created or held by the Attorney General, and by extension the Chief State Solicitor's Office, other than records relating to the general administration of the Office, are not covered by the Act. The result is that the public has a right of access to records concerning general administration of the Office but no others.

This Publication Scheme has been prepared under Section 8 of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2014. The Scheme came into effect on 14 April 2016. It is designed to facilitate the provision of information to the greatest extent possible, except for information exempted under the FOI Act.

The Scheme is web-based and contains links to reference material on our website, which will be updated as provided for under the Act. A hard copy will be made available for viewing by appointment.

The Chief State Solicitor’s Office (CSSO) is the principal provider of solicitor services to the Attorney General and government, providing advisory, litigation and transactional services to government departments and offices. We also provide solicitor services at tribunals and commissions of inquiry and represent Ireland at the Court of Justice of the European Union. Our legal work is carried out by five legal divisions, each of which is headed by an Assistant Chief State Solicitor.

The range of records held by the Office that may be released, ie general administration, falls within the following broad categories:

• Accounts/expenditure records
• Assets register
• Civil/public service guidelines and circulars
• Minutes of management meetings dealing with general administrative matters
• Annual reports
• Statements of strategy

In general, the Office is not required to make decisions on policy but does advise government departments and offices on legal policy and on the management of legal issues. This advice is exempt for the provisions of the FOI Act under Section 42(f) of the Freedom of Information Act 2014.

The Office is guided by its Strategy Statement. Our current and previous Statements of Strategy are available on the Publications page on our website.

The Office's Annual Reports are available on the Publications page on our website.

Information on the work of our legal divisions can be found here:

• Administrative Law Division
• Commercial and Employment Law Division
• Constitutional and State Litigation Division
• Justice Division
• State Property Division

The Corporate Services Division comprises:

• Finance Section
• Human Resources Section
• Information and Communications Technology Section
• Knowledge and Information Service
• Legal Support Unit
• Office Services Section
• Records and Registry Unit
• Regulation and Compliance Unit

The Office is committed to best practice structures, processes and systems that support the successful operation of duties in an ethical, accountable, transparent and effective manner.

Details of the Office's governance arrangements can be found in its Corporate Governance Framework document, which set out the systems, principles and processes by which the Office is directed and controlled. The Corporate Governance Framework of the Attorney General's Office is available on the AGO website.

The Office is staffed by civil servants employed on either a permanent or contract basis. Recruitment is sometimes carried out locally but in general the Public Appointments Service (PAS) carries out specialist recruitment competitions on behalf of the Office. The Office also recruits from general civil service competitions carried out by PAS. When recruitment is carried out locally, vacancies are advertised on our website.

All staff are paid on the standard civil service pay scales, which are available on the government circularswebsite.

The Office's Customer Charter is available on our Publications page.

The staff of the Office are civil servants in the service of the State and are therefore bound by the Civil Service Code and Standards of Behaviour.

The Office provides a legal service to government departments and offices. This includes the full range of litigation, transactional and advisory services. The Office does not provide any services directly to the public.

The Office is funded by votes from the exchequer the Office of the Chief State Solicitor (Vote 6).

The Office prepares Annual Appropriation Accounts which are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. The most recent audited accounts are published on audit.gov.ie.

The Office uses the central frameworks and contracts put in place by the Office of Government Procurement where possible. For services not currently covered by OGP arrangements the Offices comply with national and EU procurement obligations.

Information on prompt payments and on purchase orders of €20,000 or greater is published on our website:

• Purchase orders over €20,000
• Prompt payment returns

The FOI Act is intended to allow access to information held by public bodies which is not routinely available by other means (subject to certain exemptions, procedures and time limits). The following information about the activities and functions of the Office is available without the need to use the FOI Act.

• Annual reports
• Statements of strategy
• Purchases information
• Customer service material

Please note that for the purposes of FOI the Chief State Solicitor’s Office and the Office of the Attorney General are treated as one organisation.

Any person is entitled to apply for access to information which is not otherwise publicly available. When submitting a request under FOI, please note the following:

• Requests should be made in writing by post or email
• Requests should specify that they are being made under the FOI Act
• The form in which the records are sought, eg photocopies/electronic means, should be stated in the request
• The records requested should be described in as much detail as possible to allow us to identify the records sought
• A contact number which can be used during office hours should be provided for the purpose of clarifying the details of an FOI request

The staff of the Office will assist in the formulation of an FOI request if necessary. The decision will issue within four weeks. Requests should be sent to:

The Office will acknowledge a request under the FOI Act within two weeks.

The FOI Act provides for a right to internal review of decisions of public bodies. An internal review may be requested where an FOI request has been refused or partially granted or where access has been deferred or the form of access is disputed. Refusal of an FOI request is deemed to have occurred where a decision has not issued within four weeks of receipt of the FOI request.

Requests for internal review of decisions of the Office should be made in writing to:

The Liaison Officer will ensure that the review is carried out by an official at a higher level than the official who made the original FOI decision. Such a request should be made within four weeks of the original decision. The decision following internal review should issue within three weeks of its receipt.

If dissatisfied with the outcome of the internal review you may appeal to the Office of the Information Commissioner:

There is no fee for a request for records under the Freedom of Information Act. There is a fee of €30 for an internal review of a decision unless the requestor is a medical card holder or a dependant of a medical card holder. In such cases, the fee for an internal review of a decision is €10.