The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act is a tool that anyone can use to access information and records from public bodies. 

Journalists and fact-checkers use it regularly to gather data and check how decisions are made by these bodies. But the beauty of the FOI as a tool for democracy is that it is open to any member of the public. 

In this article we want to give you some tips that we have picked up as journalists which will help you navigate the FOI process.

Who is covered by FOI?

The FOI Act 2014 gives you the right to access records held by FOI bodies, including Government departments, city and county councils, HSE and voluntary hospitals, bodies providing services for disabled people and much more.

A list of these bodies is provided on the Government’s FOI website and for your convenience, we have included a table below from The Journal’s investigative platform Noteworthy with some extra information on each body.

Access to information in certain bodies is limited, eg, for An Garda Síochána, requests can only be made in the areas of finance, procurement and human resources. 

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How you can make FOI requests

Making an FOI request is as simple as an email to an FOI body requesting the relevant information, making sure it is a record – rather than general information – you are looking for. Many have forms on their websites but you don’t need to fill these out.

However, there are a few steps to follow to make it easier and less time consuming.

Step one – Is this a personal or environment-related request?

For personal information, ie, records relating to you, though these can be obtained through FOI, it is often better to make a request through the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). But FOI is largely best for non-personal requests. 

For information related to the environment, it is also often best to use a different resource – Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) requests.

Step two – Is the information already out there?

For non-personal information, check the relevant FOI body’s website to make sure the record isn’t already publicly available.

You can do this by searching their website for keywords. We have included links to websites of all FOI bodies below.

The search tool in some websites isn’t very helpful – or non-existent – so a search engine is a good alternative option (a site search can be done in Google by using site:domainname.ie)

Step three – Has the record already been requested through FOI?

It can be very useful to check the FOI Disclosure Log of relevant FOI bodies to find out whether a similar FOI has already been made.

If it was granted or part-granted, you can ask the FOI officer to re-release the records to you under ‘administrative access’ and you should get them faster than through the FOI process.

We have included links to a number of FOI logs – where we have found them online – in our below table.

Step four – Making an FOI request

If you still can’t find what you’re looking for, email the FOI officer (see list of emails in the Noteworthy table) the following text for both personal and non-personal records:

Under the FOI Act 2014, I am seeking the following: [A copy of the record you are looking for – be as specific as you can – and, if relevant, include a date or time period.] I would prefer to receive this information electronically, ideally in its original electronic format.

The reason it is good to be as specific as possible is that – though personal information is free to request – non-personal information is free up to a €101 threshold, after which fees will be charged for search, retrieval and copying. So if you know the specific record you are looking for was between January and March 2020, then specify that period.

Requests can also be refused if they are deemed to be unreasonable due to the range of material sought or if the request is too general in nature.

The contact information for the above table was obtained from the Government FOI website, but we have made it searchable by organisation, location or website address. Noteworthy has also added a link to the FOI page of the FOI body where you can get more information as well as their FOI logs, if we could find them online. 

This table can also be assessed in full searchable format by clicking here. 

What happens next?

You’ve sent the email. Now the waiting begins.

The decision must normally be made within four weeks according to the legislation. If your request is part-granted or refused, the FOI body has to let you know their reason.

Our biggest recommendation is to keep in touch with the FOI officer, for example, by sending a reminder of the impending deadline for your FOI request.

If you do not receive an answer within this time period, or you are not happy with the decision, you can ask to have it re-examined through an internal review. If you’re still not happy, you can appeal the decision to the Information Commissioner.

There is a charge for both of these appeals, but it is reduced for medical card holders and their dependents. There is no fee for internal reviews relating to decisions to charge a fee or for personal records.