Month: March 2013

The IBRC plan 2011-2020

Last year we wrote about an unredacted document we obtained that showed IBRC’s winddown plans up to 2020. Now that IBRC is in liquidation we are publishing the document in full, and much of it is still relevant in terms of the loanbook:



Commissioner decision on AIE search and retrieval fees

Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) specialist and campaigner Pat Swords was kind enough to share a recent decision of the Commissioner for Environmental Information with TheStory.ie The decision is an important one, and relates to how search and retrieval fees can be used (or not used) in relation to AIE requests (AIE was the method we used to get NAMA to be a public authority subject to AIE requests).

We were particularly interested by this paragraph:


So can any public authority charge search and retrieval for AIE requests from now on? It would certainly seem not – and would surely require new guidance to be issed to all public authorities into how they handle such requests.

The Commissioner points out in her decision that the AIE regulations (2007/2011) say that a public authority cannot charge citizens for inspecting environmental information in situ (at the premises of the authority, see Section 15 1) c) of the Regulations). She argues that if this is the case, then it would be inconsistent and unreasonable to ask citizens to pay a “search and retrieval” fee.

In other words just because the requester is remote from the premises, doesn’t mean their rights of access should be diminished by a fee being charged for search and retrieving information. Only fees for reproduction and so on (photocopying) could be charged.

This is the full decision with thanks to Pat:



NAMA vs OCEI costs via Twitter

Following the judgment on NAMA issued last week, Sinn Fein TD Pearse Doherty asked the Taoiseach not to pursue a Supreme Court appeal, as it would be a waste of taxpayers’ money. Just afterwards we wondered how much the case had cost and since NAMA/NTMA are not subject to FOI, we did what anyone would do in this situation, we put in a request for a Parliamentary Question instead, via Twitter:

Doherty agreed to ask the question, and last night we got the response, again via Twitter.

We’re not sure if this is a first, but it’s a nice open way to get information.

McCreevy 1999 Cabinet documents

Mary Minihan in the Irish Times has recently been writing about Cabinet documents she obtained under Section 19 of the FOI Act. This little-used provision allows citizens to obtain Cabinet level documents and communications after 10 years has passed. She wrote the stories listed below and has been kind enough to share the documents involved with TheStory.ie.

McCreevy warned in 2000 of threat to economy if ‘boom is let rip’
Papers reveal political wrangling behind State’s boom-time giveaway budget
McCreevy had warned of public-private tensions