The Information Commissioner (OIC) has upheld RTÉ’s refusal to release detailed information of how much high-profile staff and contractors were paid for external ‘nixer’ activities.
The OIC decided that the figures involved were personal information and that the right of privacy outweighed the public interest in knowing how much the individuals were paid.
Under FOI, Right to Know had sought a full copy of RTÉ’s Register of External Activities for Q2 of 2024, which is only published in a redacted form.
RTÉ withheld payment bands, a small number of activity descriptions and several additional notes saying they were exempt from release.
In its decision, the OIC said the information clearly related to the “financial affairs” of identifiable individuals.
In the public interest test, their senior investigator said there was no “cogent, fact-based reason” to breach the privacy rights of staffs and contractors.
He said it was not a relevant consideration that RTÉ had itself planned to publish such information until it was instructed not to do so by the Data Protection Commission.
In a data protection impact assessment prepared internally by RTÉ, the broadcaster had argued there was a high public interest in publication of the data following a series of spending controversies at Montrose.
However, the OIC said the request could only be considered in terms of FOI.
The senior investigator concluded: “The activities in question are external to the activities undertaken by such individuals in the performance of their roles and are not renumerated from public funds provided to RTÉ.
“The [FOI] Act is concerned with enhancing the transparency of public bodies, not individuals. In my view, disclosure of the fee bands would disclose nothing of significance about RTÉ’s activities.”