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Making an FOI Request to the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
Published on
Last updated on
When you make a request you must:
Yes, if you require any help the staff in FOI Unit will be happy to assist you with your request. The Unit is also available to provide assistance to persons with a disability to exercise their rights under the FOI Act 2014 (for example, accepting oral requests from requesters' who are unable to read, print and/or write due to their disability, enabling the requester to inspect or have records explained to him/her).
The FOI Act 2014, requires public bodies to respond to requests from the public for access to any record held by an FOI body. In most cases, public bodies must give their decision on a request within 4 weeks of receiving it. A week is defined in the Act to mean 5 consecutive weekdays excluding Saturday, Sunday and public holidays.
The following records come within the scope of FOI Act 2014:
However, in order to allow government business to be properly conducted, it will sometimes be necessary to exempt from release certain types of information in some circumstances. These are set out in the Act.
Among the key exemptions are records relating to:
There is no up-front fee for making a request under the FOI Act 2014.
There is no fee in respect of personal records, except where a large number of records are involved.
In the case of non-personal requests, search and retrieval charges will be applied and for any reproduction costs incurred by DECC in providing you with the material requested where the total cost exceeds €100. A rate of €20 per hour will be charged for the amount of time spent where this minimum threshold (equivalent to five free hours) is exceeded, .
A maximum ceiling of €500 applies to such fees but where the cost of search, retrieval and copying is greater than €700. The request will be refused unless the requester narrows the scope of the request.
All payments to DECC should be made by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) made payable to: Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications or alternatively by way of Postal Order or Bank Draft.
DECC will accept EFT payment in accordance with the following protocol only:
Please ensure all payments made into the department's EFT Bank account which are clearly referenced. DECC cannot accept any responsibility payments which are not referenced.
Under the FOI Act 2014, a request for records must be acknowledged within 2 weeks and, in most cases, responded to within 4 weeks. A week in the FOI Act means 5 consecutive weekdays excluding Saturday, Sunday and public holidays. The time limit for a response to issue in respect third party consultation involvement can be extended for a further three weeks.
If you are unhappy with the department's response you can seek to have a decision re-examined by a more senior member of staff within the department. Please forward applications for review of a decision, together with a fee of €30 or a reduced fee of €10 for medical card holders to the FOI Unit. See contact details below.
Note: These fees apply only to Non Personal requests.
If you are still unhappy with the decision, you have the right to appeal the decision to the Information Commissioner. Applications with appropriate fees (€50 or a reduced fee of €15 for medical card holders) should be forwarded directly to info@oic.ie