Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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4. To ask the Taoiseach 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; and 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. [27471/24]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The details sought by the Deputy in relation to the number of FOI requests received in the past three years by my Department and the National Economic and Social Development Office (NESDO), which is the only body under the aegis of my Department, are set out in the table beneath.

The FOI Unit in my Department is staffed by an Executive Officer who works on a half-time basis and an Assistant Principal Officer who also has other duties. The Unit is responsible for co-ordinating the management of FOI requests received, acknowledging their receipt and providing an advisory function to decision makers to whom requests are assigned in relevant line sections where the records sought are most likely to be located. Details of the numbers of designated decision makers by grade are set out in the table beneath.

NESDO does not have a dedicated FOI office as it does not receive many FOI requests. When a FOI request is received by NESDO an official on the Assistant Principal Officer scale who has other duties co-ordinates their management within the Office.