News & Events

Freedom of Information – Mason Hayes & Curran launches revised Freedom of Information Sourcebook

13 December 2011

On 8 December 2011, Mason Hayes & Curran launched the second edition of its Freedom of Information Sourcebook.  The Sourcebook, published in association with Public Affairs Ireland, is the most comprehensive guide to the Freedom of Information (FOI) Acts available and brings together the text of both of the FOI Acts.  Each section of the Acts is annotated with all relevant secondary legislation, the guidance and notices issued by the Department of Finance and a complete listing of all High and Supreme Court decisions relevant to that section.  The publication continues to be a unique offering in the Irish FOI field.

15,249 requests were made to public bodies under the FOI Act in 2010.  This reflects a continuation of the steady upward trend in FOI requests over the last few years.  It represents an increase of 7% (959 cases) over the 2009 figure and a 20% (2,577 cases) increase over the 2008 figure.  This, in a time of decreased resources for many FOI Officers, creates a difficulty given the strict time limits in the FOI Acts and means that they need to be able to deal with FOI requests more efficiently than ever.

Speaking at the launch of the Sourcebook, Catherine Allen, partner at Mason Hayes & Curran and co-editor of the Sourcebook said, “The FOI Acts have been a hugely important and transformative tool in the circulation of official information.  However, for many FOI practitioners, including public bodies, their legal advisers, journalists and interested members of the public, trying to analyse the FOI Acts and other relevant laws and guidance notes and the decisions of the courts, is like performing mental gymnastics.  We hope that this updated one-stop-shop reference point will make the lives of all FOI practitioners a little bit easier”.

      
Pictured at the launch of the Freedom of Information Sourcebook (l-r) Lisa Joyce, Mason Hayes & Curran, Catherine Allen, Partner, Mason Hayes & Curran,  Emily O’Reilly, Information Commissioner, Sarah  Kilduff, Public Affairs Ireland and Niall Michel, Partner, Mason Hayes & Curran.

For more information on FOI generally, please contact one of the Mason Hayes & Curran contacts listed here:

Catherine Allen
Partner, Administrative & Public Law
Phone: +353 1 614 5254
Email: callen@mhc.ie

Niall Michel
Partner, Administrative & Public Law
Phone: +353 1 614 5014
Email: nmichel@mhc.ie

Lisa Joyce
Solicitor, Administrative & Public Law
Phone:  +353 1 614 5228
Email: ljoyce@mhc.ie

For information on how to purchase a copy of the Sourcebook, please contact:

Public Affairs Ireland
25 Mountjoy Square East,
Dublin 1
t: +353 1 8198500
e: info@publicaffairsireland.com