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FOI and the Gardai

By Gavin Sheridan – December 9, 2009

Thanks to access-info for this one:

FOIA_and_police_forces_EU

All that is needed for An Garda Síochána to come under FOI is the signature of Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, and some regulations to be implemented. Then we can take our place among such nations as Moldova, Georgia and Azerbaijan as a country that allows citizens to request information from their police force. The Gardai must be brought under FOI as a matter of urgency.

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8 comments

8 Responses

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  1. Stephen Dunne said
    on December 9, 2009

    Interesting yarn in Media Guardian section on police forces and hacks and how reporters are relying on the police for more and more information…http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/dec/07/crime-reporting-newspapers-research

  2. BP said
    on December 9, 2009

    But the garda have to protect the little people from hurting themselves with all the dangerous information they have on the people-they-know-are-committing-crimes-but-just-can’t-prove-it.

  3. Ciarán said
    on December 9, 2009

    I don’t know much about this Gavin but from what I know, the Garda Síochána is unusual as an entity in that it has no legal personality. This means, for instance, that the Gardaí can’t be sued. As I say, I don’t know, but I wonder if this has implications for FOI? My impression is that the force is in law essentially part of the Department of Justice.

  4. Andrew S said
    on December 10, 2009

    I can’t read the key to the diagram clearly but from what I can glean by squinting, it appears to have categories of ‘covered by FOIA’ and ‘Included in FOIA’ – if my squint-aided reading is correct, what is the difference between the two?

  5. Mark Coughlan said
    on December 10, 2009

    Covered by FOI means the country has an FOI system and the police is automatically part of that. “Included” means the police force is included by their FOI system as an entity onto itself (as opposed to as part of a Justice department or something).

    I may be wrong, Gav has the skinny.

Continuing the Discussion

  1. Terrence Wheelock – The Story linked to this post on March 12, 2010

    [...] is entirely exempt from opening its files to the public: The Republic of Ireland. Gavin also noted the publication of the report on the day. All that is needed for An Garda Síochána to come under FOI is the signature of Finance Minister [...]

  2. New details relating to Terence Wheelock case – The Story linked to this post on April 13, 2010

    [...] western Europe which falls outside the Freedom of Information process. Again I quote Gavin’s prior post on this matter. All that is needed for An Garda Síochána to come under FOI is the signature of [...]

  3. OECD/Transparency International report – Ireland – The Story linked to this post on July 30, 2010

    [...] posts from this website on Garda secrecy and unaccountability: ‘Gardai and Freedom of Information‘, New details relating to the Terence Wheelock case; Deaths in Garda [...]

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