Requests under the Freedom of Information Act will cost €15 each, while appeals to the Information Commissioner and Ombudsman, Ms Emily O'Reilly, will cost €150 a time, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, has announced.
The mandatory charges will come into force from July 7th, although requests for personal information, and any subsequent appeals about such cases, will continue to be free, the Minister emphasised last night.
In future, members of the public unhappy with a Department's response will have to spend up to €240 to appeal a refusal to the Information Commissioner, including a €15 initial request, €75 for an internal appeal and €150 for a final appeal.
However, the three-page statement issued by the Department of Finance failed to make it clear if the Information Commissioner's office would be responsible for administering the charges.
The appeal levy - which will be one of the highest in the world - is likely to provoke a public response today from the Information Commissioner, who is a former leading journalist.
A €10 fee will be applied if a medical cardholder or the dependant of a medical cardholder makes an FOI request for non-personal information. Fees will be levied where necessary to cover the cost of processing of FOI requests.
Last night, Mr McCreevy claimed that the changes "will lead to a better appreciation of a service, which has been estimated to cost hundreds of euro on average per FOI request.
"A substantial number of users of the FOI Act will be either unaffected or will qualify for a reduced fee," said Mr McCreevy, who did not refer to the impact the changes will have on journalists.
The leader of Fine Gael, Mr Enda Kenny, said the Government's changes would stop the public from ever finding out more details about the resignation of Mr Justice Feargus Flood from the chair of the Flood tribunal.
Section 17 of the Act gave Departmental secretaries general powers to block the release of all documents "concerned with the appointment or proposed appointment or the business of proceedings of a tribunal".
"It is clear that this could be invoked to withhold documents that might throw some light on the discussions and correspondence that took place between Mr Justice Flood and the Government in recent months, but particularly in the past week," said Mr Kenny.
Labour TD Ms Joan Burton said the charges were "a further assault on the public's right to access information and an extension of the Government's paranoid closed-shop mentality to running the country.
"The majority of FOI requests involve more than one specific inquiry; therefore the public is faced with significant costs for a much- restricted service following the decision to fillet the FOI legislation last spring," she said.
The existing administrative charges imposed by many Government departments and State agencies had already put "the Freedom of Information Act beyond the reach of many citizens".
The Information Commissioner's appeal charge "is a scandalous attempt to deter the public from querying the reasons they are denied access to certain material", the Dublin West TD declared.
"International evidence clearly demonstrates that such charges are a deterrent to public access to government documents, despite safeguards already existing to protect the most sensitive information," she added.
Green Party TD Mr Dan Boyle said the Government was trying to discourage the public from "asking the necessary questions" by lodging Freedom of Information requests.
