Fees charged by State bodies for the internal review of Freedom of Information requests should be reduced or abolished, in line with practice in other countries, the Information Commissioner has said.
In a report published today, Emily O'Reilly called for the review of regulations introduced in 2003.
Under those regulations, a person making a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act must pay €15 for an initial request, €75 for an internal review if the request is refused and €150 for an application to the Information Commissioner.
Information Commissioner Emily O'Reilly
Ms O'Reilly said that since the introduction of fees, the number of non-personal requests made to public bodies and appeals accepted by her office had fallen by 59 per cent and 44 per cent respectively.
In her report of 2004, she had noted that of seven jurisdictions with similar legislation to Ireland, none charged a fee for internal review, while only one, Ontario, charged a fee for appeal to the information commissioner.
"We recommend that the amount of the fees for 'internal review' and appeal to the Information Commissioner, be reviewed to bring them into line with other similar jurisdictions," Ms O'Reilly said.
"The Act should provide for a refund of the 'internal review' fee or application fee paid to the Information Commissioner, as appropriate, where the original decision of the public body is successfully appealed at 'internal review' or appeal to the Information Commissioner.
"It should be noted that in 2005, the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service agreed unanimously that 'the cost of instigating a Freedom of Information denial appeal to the Information Commissioner was excessive' and 'in particular, where such an appeal was successful, the fee should be refunded'."
The Information Commissioner also noted that her predecessor, Kevin Murphy, had expressed "considerable disappointment" that his office was not consulted about the amendment of the FOI Act and the introduction of fees in 2003.
Ms O'Reilly makes a number of other recommendations in her report, including that the FOI Act should apply to the Health and Safety Authority, whose enforcement records were removed from the scope of the legislation in 2005.
She also recommends that the maximum fine for failing or refusing to comply with a requirement or for hindering or obstructing the Information Commissione rshould be increased to €10,000 and/or six months' imprisonment.
The report also suggests the introduction of a provision to allow the head of a public body to refuse to grant a request for records already release to a requester.
"There is a need to protect public bodies from individuals who are abusing the FOI Act by unreasonably targeting a public body. We recommend an amendment whereby a public body could, in limited circumstance, decide to refuse to deal with requests from a particular person for a fixed period."