The number of Freedom of Information (FoI) applications lodged last year fell by nearly one-fifth following a fall in the number of sex-abuse compensation claims against religious orders.
Thousands of applications for personal files have been made to the Department of Education and Science in recent years by people preparing cases for the Residential Institutions Redress Board.
However, the flow of cases is now falling, and the number of new file applications received by the department fell by 2,608 between 2005 and 2006.
The number of FoI applications received last year was down by 2,812 to 11,804, a fall of 19 per cent on the 2005 figure, according to the ninth annual report on the operation of the legislation.
Minister of State for Finance, Noel Ahern, claimed State departments and agencies were now routinely publishing information that would previously have required FoI requests.
"The overall impact of the Freedom of Information Act in creating public access to official information is, therefore, greater than the figures indicate," he said.
The operation of the legislation, he said, had been "underpinned" by the Government's investment in FoI training for civil and public servants.
More than nine in every 10 applications under the decade-old legislation to the Health Service Executive seek information held on file about patients or staff. However, the percentage of personal information applications to local authorities or government bodies is far lower. Just one in four applications to local authorities is for personal information.
More than three-quarters of all applications are now from the public, with just one in 10 coming from journalists, who have long complained that stricter rules have curbed the legislation's value. A quarter of all applications to central Government and other State bodies were refused, though nearly half were fully granted, according to statistics produced yesterday by the Department of Finance.
Businesses lodged 7 per cent of all requests, while just over 5 per cent were from staff working with public bodies. The remaining 1 per cent came from Oireachtas members and other public representatives.
The number of applications has fallen markedly on the 18,000 received in 2003, before the then minister for finance, Charlie McCreevy, increased costs and curbed the legislation's scope.
