Decisions of the Information Commissioner

The Senior Investigator varied the HSE's decision. She annulled its effective refusal of access to four files that were found but had not been considered under FOI, and directed the HSE to make a fresh decision under the FOI Act on these. She was satisfied that the HSE has now taken all reasonable steps to look for records covered by the requests and found section 15(1)(a) to apply. She annulled the HSE's refusal of access to parts of records under section 30(1)(c) (negotiation positions or plans). She found some information to be exempt under section 36(1)(c) (prejudice to the conduct or outcome of negotiations). She found other information to be exempt under section 37 (personal information). She directed the HSE to grant access to the remaining parts of the records.

The Senior Investigator varied the HSE's decision. She annulled its effective refusal of access to four files that were found but had not been considered under FOI, and directed the HSE to make a fresh decision under the FOI Act on these. She was satisfied that the HSE has now taken all reasonable steps to look for records covered by the requests and found section 15(1)(a) to apply. She annulled the HSE's refusal of access to parts of records under section 30(1)(c) (negotiation positions or plans). She found some information to be exempt under section 36(1)(c) (prejudice to the conduct or outcome of negotiations). She found other information to be exempt under section 37 (personal information). She directed the HSE to grant access to the remaining parts of the records.

The Senior Investigator affirmed the decision of the Council.

The Senior Investigator varied the decision of the Council. She found that it had not justified its refusal to grant access to the majority of the records under sections 30 and 31. She directed their release subject to the redaction of personal information of third parties. She also found that the Council had justified its decision to refuse to grant access to record 3 in part under section 37. She found that the public interest in granting the request did not outweigh the public interest in upholding the right of privacy of the third parties.

The Senior Investigator varied the decision of the VCI. She affirmed the decision to refuse access to some records under sections 42(m)(i), 30(1)(a) and 31(1)(a) of the FOI Act. She annulled the decision to refuse access to one record under section 29(1) and directed release of that record.

The Senior Investigator varied the decision of the HSE. He found that it was justified in refusing access to the vast majority of the information at issue under section 37(1) of the FOI Act, with the exception of a small amount of information.

The Senior Investigator annulled the decision of the HSE to refuse access to the records sought, and directed it to provide the applicant with a transcript of her interview notes in accordance with the provisions of section 17 of the FOI Act.

The Senior Investigator found that the Department had not justified its decision to refuse the request as it had failed to consider the Freedom of Information Act 2014 (Section 37(8)) Regulations 2016. He annulled the decision and directed the Department to undertake a fresh decision-making process in respect of the applicant's request having due regard to the relevant Regulations.

The Senior Investigator varied the HSE's decision. She annulled its effective refusal of access to four files located during the review, and directed the HSE to make a fresh decision under the FOI Act on those records. The Senior Investigator was not satisfied that the HSE has taken all reasonable steps to look for records covered by the request or that further records do not exist (section 15(1)(a)). The Senior Investigator found that the HSE had not justified its application of section 29 (deliberative process). She annulled that part of its decision and directed the HSE to grant access to the records that it had refused under section 29. She found that section 36(1)(b) applied to part of a record (a daily rate), and that the public interest did not weigh in favour of disclosure of the rate. She directed that access be granted to the rest of that record.

The Senior Investigator affirmed the decision of the HSE to refuse access to additional relevant records under section 15(1)(a) of the FOI Act on the ground that no further relevant records exist.