Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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142. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of contracted staff, full-time and part-time, employed by his Department, and by any body or entity under the aegis of the Department, who are specifically assigned to processing freedom of information requests (details supplied), in each of the past three years; the Civil Service grade of each; the number of freedom of information requests dealt with by his Department, or any body or entity under its aegis, in each of the past three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27232/24]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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My Department operates a Freedom of Information/Parliamentary Affairs unit which, amongst other duties, assists the Department in managing the FOI process. The unit comprises two full-time staff with primary responsibility for managing the FOI process, one at Clerical Officer (CO) level and one at Executive Officer (EO) level, reporting to a Higher Executive Officer (HEO) and Assistant Principal (AP) who oversee this unit. The role of this unit in relation to FOI requests is administrative; responsibility for answering FOI requests resides with individual decision makers. My Department dealt with 284 FOI requests in 2021, 274 in 2022, 270 in 2023 and 190 requests to date in 2024.

Bodies under the aegis of my Department that are within the scope of the FOI legislation have advised as follows:

The Central Bank has 2 fulltime staff (Grade: Banking Professional 3) and 1-part time staff member (Grade: Banking Professional 2) specifically dedicated to working on FOI requests in each of the years specified. In 2021, the Bank dealt with 77 FOI requests, 57 in 2022, 76 in 2023 and 33 to date in 2024.

As the Credit Review Office (CRO) has a low volume of FOI requests, none of its staff are specifically dedicated to managing FOI requests; a staffing complement of 2.6 deals with requests as they arise. The CRO dealt with 1 FOI request in each of the years 2021 and 2022, 2 requests in 2023 and has not received any requests to date in 2024.

There are no staff specifically assigned to dealing with FOI requests in the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO). The FOI functions are shared amongst a Principal Officer, Assistant Principal and Higher Executive Officer within the Corporate and Communications Services Department. The FSPO dealt with 9 requests in 2021, 12 in 2022, 18 in 2023 and 15 to date in 2024.

The Irish Financial Services Appeals Tribunal does not assign staff to specifically process FOI requests. It dealt with 1 request in each of the years 2021, 2022 and 2023, and has not received any FOI requests to date this year.

While no staff member of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council is assigned specifically to process FOI requests, the role of an administrative member of the Secretariat includes FOI duties. The Fiscal Council received 7 FOI requests in each of the years 2021, 2022 and 2023, and has received 2 FOI requests to date in 2024.

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) assigns staff to Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI), the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI). It does not operate a grade system for employees, each contract is individually negotiated and therefore a breakdown by grade is not available. Processing of FOI requests is undertaken by staff alongside other responsibilities. In 2021, 60 FOI requests received by these four bodies were processed by 6 staff members, 4 staff members dealt with 48 requests in 2022, and in 2023 and 2024 to date, 3 staff dealt with 59 and 25 requests respectively.

The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG) does not have any staff dedicated solely to working on FOI requests. Staff assigned to working on FOI requests, including the FOI Officer, do so in addition to other duties. OCAG dealt with 7 FOI requests in 2021, 10 in 2022, 13 in 2023 and 1 to date in 2024.

The Office of the Revenue Commissioners has had 4 full-time and 1-part time staff members dedicated to working on FOI requests for each of the years specified. In 2021, 1 Assistant Principal (AP), 1 Higher Executive Officer (HEOs), 2 Executive officers (EOs) and 1 Clerical Officer (CO) dealt with 205 FOI requests. From 2022, 1 AP, 1 HEO and 3 EOs dealt with 218 FOI requests in 2022, 242 in 2023 and 132 to date in 2024. It should, however, be noted that the AP has other responsibilities, it is estimated that 50% of their time is dedicated to working on FOI requests.

The Tax Appeals Commission (TAC) has one staff member at Assistant Principal level who, as part of their normal duties, is also charged with processing all FOI requests received. The Commission does not employ any staff whose only role is processing FOI requests; it dealt with 6 FOI requests in each of the years 2021 and 2022, 5 in 2023 and 1 in 2024 to date.