Irish FOI: "O’Reilly called in gardaí on FOI request"

Interesting case from Ireland in two respects: the powers used by the Ombudsman and the way an authority fell out of the scope of FOI.

"THE Ombudsman was forced to contact the gardaí after the former credit union watchdog ignored repeated requests to release a report under the Freedom of Information Act.......However, when the report was finally supplied, it could not be made public because new legislation ensured it was not covered by the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

The record sought an interim draft report on Gurranabraher Credit Union in Cork City would have been covered by FOI if it had been released before May 1, 2003, 14 months after it was first requested by the Ombudsman."

Irish examiner (registration required)