Right to Know has won a case where we sought records on pre-budget discussions between An Bord Pleanála (ABP) and its parent department under FOI.
ABP refused to release the records citing Section 40 of the FOI Act which covers release of information that could affect the “financial and economic interests of the state.”
This part of the legislation is generally used for ‘macro’ level information of a type that might be held by the Department of Finance.
At internal review, we told An Bord Pleanála they were misinterpreting the FOI Act and how Section 40 was intended to work.
They upheld the decision.
We appealed to the Information Commissioner who also said An Bord Pleanála appeared to be “misunderstanding” how the exemption worked.
The decision said: “At no point in its submissions to this Office has ABP identified how the conduct of general commercial activity in the State could be disrupted by the release of the records at issue.
“Having considered the matter, it is also not evident to me how the release of 2024 budgetary projections for ABP could reasonably be expected to result in an undue disturbance to the ordinary course of business in the State.”
The case unfortunately highlights one of the glaring weaknesses of how FOI works in that the appeal process can be very lengthy.
The records at the heart of this decision relate to Budget 2024 and have now been superseded by similar correspondence that would have been generated ahead of Budget 2025.
We have sought a copy of the newer records this week and hopefully it won’t take quite as long to get sight of them.
You can read the full decision below.