Freedom of Information Request - Courts

godtabh

Is it possible to get a FOI request for the courts i.e correspondence with the Office of the General Solicitor for Minors and Wards of Court?

NUTLEY BOY

godtabh wrote: »

Is it possible to get a FOI request for the courts i.e correspondence with the Office of the General Solicitor for Minors and Wards of Court?

The question suggests that the information relates to correspondence relative to a specific matter as distinct from a matter of general public interest. In that case the applicant would probably have to be the party who is the subject matter of the correspondence in question i.e. the FoI application should relate to personal information relative to the applicant.

I don't know specifically about the Office of the General Solicitor... However, I have found it very helpful to check first if a particular body is subject to the jurisdiction of the Office of the Information Commissioner - link http://www.oic.gov.ie/en/

godtabh

For arguments sake if the individual who is at the center of the FOi request made the request that would be acceptable but not Joe Bloggs?

Really Interested

godtabh wrote: »

For arguments sake if the individual who is at the center of the FOi request made the request that would be acceptable but not Joe Bloggs?

If it’s the person involved it is a Data request under the Data protections acts not a FOI request under freedom of information.

FOI is any information relating to a body covered by the legislation say how much AGS spent on tea in a month.

Data request is a request for your own information say a request for all records held about you by AGS.

godtabh

I didnt realise there were two separate things

NUTLEY BOY

Really Interested wrote: »

If it’s the person involved it is a Data request under the Data protections acts not a FOI request under freedom of information.

FOI is any information relating to a body covered by the legislation say how much AGS spent on tea in a month.

Data request is a request for your own information say a request for all records held about you by AGS.

I take your point about data protection and that is always helpful where you can use it.

FoI can also be used to access personal information held about you by bodies that come within the scope of the FoI acts. For example, in anticipation of a dispute with a particular government department, I decided to access the information that they held on me. They duly obliged with a full disclosure of all of the information requested by way of a FoI request from me as the individual concerned.

BTW the FoI request for personal information held cost me nothing. A FoI request of a general nature - like Garda tea - might be a bit costly.

Tom Young

No