The daa, which operates Dublin Airport, has been ordered to release documents on the presence of dangerous chemicals on its land.
The airport authority has spent close to a year trying to frustrate requests by Right to Know, local residents, and journalists.
The requests all related to the presence of PFAS – commonly called ‘forever chemicals’ – on its property.
The chemicals leeched into the ground through the past use of fire-fighting foams and are a common issue at airports around the world.
Since requests under Access to Information the Environment (AIE) Regulations first began to be submitted late last year, the daa has been trying to block release of records on the scale of pollution.
During the summer, it published a number of reports to its website that were actively being sought by requesters.
The refusal of other documents was appealed by Right to Know to the Commissioner for Environmental Information (CEI).
The CEI found in our favour and sent the case back to the daa for a fresh decision.
However, the daa then decided they would try to impose a €20 fee for release of a handful of documents.
Having already paid €50 for our appeal to the CEI, we did not accept that.
It is important to note that under FOI, the sister system of AIE, fees can not be charged for information that costs less than €100 (five hours of work at €20) to process.
We appealed over the imposition of fees and the CEI again ruled in our favour.
However, the daa is undaunted and just yesterday (3 October) once more demanded payment of a €20 fee for a small number of records on airport charges.
We are aware of other cases where people have been charged small fees and paid them, only to receive records that are so heavily redacted they are meaningless.
We will continue to appeal all cases involving the daa and any attempt to use fees as a way to dodge scrutiny of their activities.
On a side note, the daa – which operates a monopoly over air travel in and out of Dublin – made profits of €176 million last year.