Government statistics have confirmed the dramatic decline in the use of the Freedom of Information Act since the Government introduced restrictions and high charges for its use.
Just 12,600 Freedom of Information (FoI) requests were made in 2004, compared with 18,400 in 2003. The decline in use of the Act by the press was even more pronounced, with just 882 requests being made by journalists compared with 2,392 in 2003.
The figures released by the Department of Finance yesterday in the annual report on the operation of the Act confirm findings released earlier this year by the Information Commissioner Emily O'Reilly. She announced there had been a 32 per cent decline in the usage of the Act between 2003 and 2004. She blamed the introduction of high charges for this decline.
Fees for using the FoI Act were introduced in July 2003, imposing substantially higher charges on the press and the public than existed in other countries. From that date the Government also restricted the type of files that would be made available, limiting in particular access to information concerning ministerial decision-making.
Critics of the Government's restriction of the Act claimed the aim was to limit the release of embarrassing information about Government decisions that was being obtained by the press under the Act. The steep fall in the usage of the Act by the press in 2004 indicates that the restrictions have severely curtailed journalists' inquiries under it.
The report acknowledges that the introduction of fees has contributed to the reduced number of FoI requests. But it says that the drop in the number of requests for personal information from former residents of industrial and reformatory schools also contributed to the decline.
Of the 12,600 requests made in 2004, 81 per cent were granted in full or in part, almost exactly the same proportion as in 2003.
The report notes that members of the public made 77 per cent of requests, with 7 per cent coming from journalists. This compares with 71 per cent and 13 per cent in 2003. Business users accounted for around 8 per cent of requests (9 per cent in 2003). Just over 7 per cent were from staff members in public bodies (5 per cent in 2003), with the remaining 1 per cent of requests coming from public representatives (2 per cent in 2003).
Some 77 per cent of requests under the Act in 2004 were from people seeking access to their own personal records. This compares with 71 per cent of requests in 2003 and 69 per cent in 2002.
Between them the Departments of Education and Health received 2,286 requests, more than half the total of 4,220 received by Government departments. A substantial number of these requests relate to industrial and reformatory schools and children in the care of the State. The number of requests to these two departments decreased by 36 per cent over 2003.
Local authorities received 1,500 requests in the year compared to 2,668 in 2003. Health boards received 3,500 compared to 4,200 in 2003. A substantial number of requests to health boards also relate to children in the care of the State.