The Government is to consider refunding fees where people successfully appeal refusals to grant information under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, the Taoiseach told the Dáil.
Mr Ahern was replying to the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, who said that use of the Act had been cut dramatically since the introduction of fees. He asked the Taoiseach if he accepted that a person who successfully appealed a refusal of access to information should be reimbursed the fees involved.
"Is the deputy suggesting we should look at introducing a system of refunds for successful appeals? It is a constructive suggestion that will be looked at," Mr Ahern replied.
Figures given to the House by Mr Ahern revealed that just one FOI request was received by his Department in May, a reduction of 10 on the same month last year.
The Taoiseach insisted that the fee for making a FOI request was €15, which he did not believe could be considered a major deterrent. "It is modest when set against the cost of administering the service, which when it was calculated some time ago by the Department of Finance was about €425 per request."
He repeated that the service was free for people who wished to seek personal information.
The Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said of other jurisdictions surveyed, only three imposed a fee for FOI application requests, none charged for an internal review, and only one, Ontario, charged for an application to the information commissioner's office. "That fee was less than half the Irish fee."
He asked what the response was to the information commissioner's call for a reappraisal of the €150 charge which applied to reviews carried out by her office.
Mr Ahern said the number of FOI requests had been falling since 1999. In the first year of the operation of FOI, 207 applications were received in his Department, with the numbers peaking in 2001 at 279 applications.
Initially, he said, people were looking for information from the past. Even before the changes were introduced a year ago, the figures were substantially down.
"Over 60 per cent of requests to my Department were from journalists, but since the fee was introduced they have not been using it to the same extent. In the other areas, the number of requests from academics, business and others has not changed significantly. The figure for personal cases is still the same."
Pressed by the Green Party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent, he said that for a period the media, business and others were using the Act to a great extent. "In other countries that is not the case. It is used by the public. By and large, FOI was introduced for the benefit of the public, and it is settling back to that being the case."
Mr Martin Ferris (SF, Kerry North) said the fees were inhibiting journalists and others who scrutinised the workings of Government and the civil service. Mr Ahern said a fee of €15 could not be considered a major deterrent.
