Minister McGrath launches Public Consultation on the FOI Act
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From: Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform
- Published on: 11 November 2021
- Last updated on: 16 November 2021
The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath TD, today Thursday, announced the launch of a public consultation as part of the review of the Freedom of Information Act.
The consultation asks participants to briefly identify key issues with the FOI system as they see it, in order to assist the Department in defining the scope of the review.
The consultation form is available at the following link, and should take no more than five minutes to complete:-
Launching the Public Consultation, Minister McGrath said:
"This consultation is the first opportunity for stakeholders across all sectors to make their voices heard and set the direction of the review, which will in turn shape the future of FOI in Ireland.
"I would encourage anyone who has an interest or a perspective in relation to FOI or transparency more generally to participate. It is of crucial importance that the review can draw on the broadest possible range of views and insights, as we seek out better ways of delivering on the core principle of transparency in public administration."
For organisations, advocacy or representative groups, or anyone who does not with to use the web form, submissions will be accepted by post or email.
Anyone interested should contact foireview@per.gov.ie or write the the FOI Central Policy Unit at this Department for further details.
The consultation will be open until 17th December.
Based on the responses received, the Department will prepare a paper identifying key themes and issues of concern to stakeholders, to be published early in the New Year. At that stage, individuals and organisations will have a further opportunity to make more detailed submissions on the relevant issues.
For more details on the review process, the review roadmap is available at the following link:-
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Notes to Editors
The first Freedom of Information Act was passed in 1997. The current legislation was enacted in 2014. The current system has shown itself to be robust and effective on its own terms. In most years, roughly four out of every five requests decided on by public bodies are granted in full or in part. Full independent review by the Information Commissioner is available where a requester is dissatisfied with a decision, however levels of uptake on this have remained consistently and notably low in recent years, amounting to around 1% of requests annually.
Demand has increased year on year, reaching a peak of 41,167 FOI requests processed in 2019, while in 2020 even at the height of the pandemic, 32,652 requests were processed.
A public consultation on the scope of the review will commence later this year, which will allow stakeholders to shape the issues and themes that will be considered, as well as to highlight any concerns they may have or any elements they feel are working well. Alongside this, a project to estimate the cost of FOI to the Exchequer and a customer satisfaction survey will be commenced before year end.
Early in 2022, based on the insights and themes identified from the scoping survey, the Department will publish a consultation paper and a full public consultation will be undertaken. This will be accompanied by regional events to raise awareness of the review and extend its reach. Other research work will be undertaken alongside this, including an assessment of international best practices, focus groups and interviews with key stakeholders.
It is intended that research work will be concluded by the middle of 2022, and a report and recommendations presented to the Government and published at that point.
Further details on Freedom of Information:
https://www.gov.ie/en/organisation-information/42752a-freedom-of-information