Author: Gavin Sheridan

Deputy Joan Burton (Labour) has been kind enough to share more of her Freedom of Information requests relating to Anglo Irish Bank. I have scanned and OCRd these documents for easy searching. If any other TDs wish to share their requests, please contact us.

Burton 1 (Ireland notification to EC)
Burton Anglo 2
Burton Anglo 3 (Result of appeal for internal review)

Burton refusal

Anglo 3 is interesting. It contains an email to the Financial Regulator Patrick Neary on October 11, 2008:

Min v anxious that we have the pwc work on anglo asap so that we understand their book in detail – sees them as most likely source of trouble, esp given share price movements during the wk

It also contains this email from John Paul Coleman at Anglo, dated January 20, 2009:

Marie,

As discussed as at the 30th September 2008 (last published accounts) the Bank had €2.835 billion of perpetual bonds not guaranteed under the scheme.

This includes the Banks GBP300million preference shares (€371 million at 30th September).Attached is the note which will be in the Banks annual accounts showing this for September. The note has both dated and undated but I have highlighted the undated (perpetual) bonds.

Any additional information needed please let me know.

Regards,
John-Paul

Like Mark explained last week, we are closely watching the search strings and IP addresses of visitors. Today another one popped up. On Friday I submitted an FOI request to the Comptroller & Auditor General, located at the Treasury Building in Dublin. They would have received my request today.

And today this search:

Search Engine Phrase “gavin sheridan”
Search Engine Name Google
Search Engine Host www.google.ie
Host Name h137-191-239-45.gn.gov.ie
IP Address 137.191.239.45 [Label IP Address]
Country Ireland
Region Dublin
City Dublin
ISP Treasury Bldg
Returning Visits 0
Visit Length 2 mins 59 secs
VISITOR SYSTEM SPECS
Browser IE 7.0
Operating System WinXP
Resolution 1024×768
Javascript Enabled

It is certainly interesting. I would imagine it is curiosity, or perhaps even a desire to know the purpose of my request. However, it is also worth noting Section 8 (4) of the Freedom of Information Act:

Subject to the provisions of this Act, in deciding In deciding whether to grant or refuse to grant a request under section 7:
(a) any reason that the requester gives for the request, and
(b) any belief or opinion of the head as to what are the reasons of the requester for
the request,

shall be disregarded.

Searching for who I am after my request has been submitted is a curious one. Legally, the reasons for my request are irrelevant to the Deciding officer or the FOI officer.

Part 2 of an ongoing process. Today I am posting the Taoiseach’s diary from October 2008 to March 2009.

Redactions are there because the Department says some relate to personal information, and others relate to party political issues.

Some weeks ago I sought the diary of An Taoiseach Brian Cowen, and it has now been released with redactions. Anthony Cummins, the Principal Officer in charge of my request stated in relation to the entries:

a) Some of them contain personal information, as defined in Section 2 of the Act, and I consider that the exemption provided by Section 28 of the Act applies to them

b) Some of them relate to the Taoiseach’s private papers as a member of the Oireachtas. Section 46 of the Act states, inter alia, that the Act does not apply to records relating to any of the private papers of a member of the Oireachtas and as such I consider that the Act does not apply to these entries….

c) I consider that release of some of the entries could reasonably be expected to affect adversely the international affairs of the State or maters relating to Northern Ireland. I consider that these entries are exempt from release under Section 24 of the Act

d) Some of the entries relate to the deliberative process of a public body and I consider that they are exempt under Section 20 (1) of the Act. I do not consider that the public interest would, on balance, be better served by granting than by refusing to grant access to these entries.

I am uploading this in tranches as the Department chose to release this information in hard copy, and I am scanning a few months at a time. I will integrate the diaries at a later stage.

May 7 to October 7.

I have created a spreadsheet that contains some of the bodies covered by the FOI Act. I have opened up the document for editing to seek your help in adding more data, especially web addresses. Of course we are open to suggestions about adding other data.

FOI Bodies