Press release
Annual Review 2023: Media Release
From Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information (OCEI)
Published on
Last updated on
From Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information (OCEI)
Published on
Last updated on
Commissioner for Environmental Information, Ger Deering, has welcomed some improvements in how public authorities, such as government departments and county councils, are dealing with requests to them for information under the Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) Regulations.
Speaking at the publication of his annual review for 2023, Mr Deering said that there had been a reduction in the number of cases he saw last year of ‘deemed refusals’ - where a public authority failed to make a decision on an AIE request on time. However, the percentage of decisions by public authorities his Office had to overturn on appeal was ‘unacceptably high’ at nearly 92%.
Access to Information on the Environment Regulations provide a right for the public to access environmental information held by public authorities such as government departments, local authorities and other State bodies. The Commissioner for Environmental Information reviews decisions made by public authorities on an AIE request.
2023 saw 351 appeals made to the Commissioner for Environmental Information. While slightly down on the 369 received in 2022, the figure maintains the significant rise in appeals to that Office, from 147 in 2021, and from just 46 the year before that.
The Commissioner had been highly critical of the number of ‘deemed refusals’ his Office saw in 2022 - cases where a public authority failed to make a decision on an AIE request within the time limit set out in legislation. However, 2023 saw a 40% reduction in the number of deemed refusals at the original decision making stage, and a 62% drop in a deemed refusal at ‘internal review’ stage. The Commissioner said that while the reduction was welcome, there was still a significant number of cases where some public authorities failed to deliver a decision in time (149 of the 351 appeals his Office received).
The Commissioner also said he was disappointed to have to report that in just seven (5.1%) of the 136 decisions he issued in 2023 could he affirm the decision of the public authority. He varied the decision of the public authority in four cases (2.9%), and in 125 cases (nearly 92%) he annulled the public authority’s decision. The Commissioner said that the annulment rate of almost 92% was a near identical rate to that in 2022 and was a significant cause for concern.
The Commissioner for Environmental Information’s Annual Review 2023 contains a number of case studies including:
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) refused a request under the Access to Information on the Environment Regulations for a report by Air Traffic Controllers on the ‘Recuse 116’ helicopter crash in Blacksod Bay in March 2017. The decision was appealed to the Commissioner for Environmental Information, Ger Deering. As is normal practice, the Commissioner asked for a copy of the report to assist with carrying out his review. However, the IAA refused to provide a copy of the report to the Commissioner. The IAA provided various reasons for refusing to do so, but failed to engage to discuss the provision of the report to the Commissioner’s Office. In addition, despite repeated requests from the Commissioner, it did not explain the grounds for its decision to refuse access to the report under the AIE Regulations.
In his decision the Commissioner highlighted the obligation on public authorities under AIE laws to provide reasons for decisions for a refusal on an AIE request. The Commissioner said that the IAA had not complied with its obligations under AIE, and directed the IAA to make a fresh decision in accordance with the Regulations.
See page 19 of the Commissioner’s Annual Review 2023 (Case ref: OCE 127739-F6N9X8)
In one decision that dealt with 20 appeals to his Office, the Commissioner for Environmental Information, Ger Deering, criticised the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s decision and the lack of proper searches for the records requested under the Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) Regulations. A number of people had made requests relating to forestry issues to the Department under the AIE Regulations. The Department refused the requests but the Commissioner said that “there had been a notable and almost complete absence of reasons for refusal by the Department”, that “adequate searches had not been carried out”, and that “it was unacceptable that the Department provided identical decisions in response to so many requests without providing even a basic level of reasoning”.
The Department acknowledged that it did not fully comply with the AIE Regulations. The Commissioner directed the Department to carry out a new decision on the requests.
See page 22 of the Commissioner’s Annual Review 2023 (Case ref: OCE-125285-R5R7T4)
The Commissioner for Environmental Information’s Annual Review 2023 is available at www.ocei.ie
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Media Queries:
Dave Nutley
Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information
Ph: 086 412 0240
Email: david.nutley@ombudsman.ie
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Dublin 2