State bodies are taking too long to respond to freedom of information (FoI) requests, the information commissioner has said.
Peter Tyndall said that the failure of some government departments and state agencies to meet statutory deadlines was disappointing.
Speaking at the launch of his annual report in Dublin yesterday, he said that there had been a significant increase in the number of requests since the removal of fees in 2014. This posed a challenge for a number of public bodies, he said, adding that he was concerned there had been no commensurate increase in staffing levels. “Now is the time to ensure sufficient people are in place to deal with requests promptly and properly,” he said.
A record number of requests were deemed to have been refused last year because bodies had missed the deadline for responding. About a quarter of all cases deemed eligible for review by the commissioner arose out of a lack of any ruling by the relevant body. Tusla — the Child and Family Agency — and the HSE were the worst offenders.
The commissioner said that it was “completely unsatisfactory” that some bodies ignored requests.
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A total of 30,417 FoI requests were made to public bodies last year — an annual increase of 8 per cent. Of those requests, 74 per cent were fully or partially granted, while 13 per cent were refused.
The HSE accounted for more than a quarter of all requests made, followed by the Department of Social Protection, Tallaght Hospital and Tusla. The number of applications for a review of decisions made by public bodies rose by 32 per cent last year to 577 cases.
Mr Tyndall criticised gardaí over their handling of a request by The Times for staffing levels at every garda station. Gardaí had signalled that they would appeal the ruling on security grounds, but they failed to lodge papers in the High Court within a four-week deadline, after which Mr Tyndall was forced to threaten them with a court order.
“It was only on the threat of court action some 11 weeks after my decision that my office secured the release of the information,” he said.
He added that it was the first time he considered using powers under the Freedom of Information Act 2014 to follow up on cases where a public body had failed to comply with a decision.