The handling by a number of public bodies of Freedom of Information requests leaves "a lot to be desired", according to a new report on the working of the Freedom of Information Act.
The majority of FoI appeals take longer than the recommended four months to be completed and the Information Commissioner's office remains understaffed, the report says.
Speaking at the publication of the third Annual Report of the Information Commissioner in Dublin yesterday, the Information Commissioner, Mr Kevin Murphy, said his office was carrying out a general investigation into the handling of public bodies of FoI requests. This would be completed by the end of the year, he said.
However, he declined to identify the worst-offending public bodies as he did not "want to prejudice anything might say in that".
Mr Murphy holds his office under the FoI Act and his role is to examine appeals where requests under the Act have been refused or only partially granted.
"There are still a number of public bodies whose processing of FoI requests leave a lot to be desired, and whose approach often results in a huge burden on my staff in clarifying issues which should have been addressed by the public body."
Of the 846 open cases on the office's hands last year, just 237 were processed by the end of 2000.
Of these, just two were completed within the four-month deadline.
"I expect it may take at least two years to achieve a situation where cases will normally be decided within the desired timescale," said Mr Murphy.
Now in its fourth year, the office is staffed by 12 investigators.
One works half-time and two are at senior level. Two are on loan from the Office of the Ombudsman.
The full complement should be 12 investigators and one senior investigator.
"I appreciate that each application is of great importance to the person making it," he said.
Some 422 of the 846 open cases last year were new appeals. The rest were pending from previous years.
Some 370 related to a public body's refusal to grant access to records.
Sixty per cent related to personal information.
Of the 237 cases completed, the commissioner affirmed the decision made by the public body in 91 cases, varied it in 43 cases and arranged a settlement between the appellant and the public body in 31 cases. Remaining cases were either withdrawn or discontinued.
Mr Murphy said there was confusion within public bodies as to what was required of them in relation to the publication of information manuals as mandated in the FoI Act.
Known as Section 15 and Section 16 manuals - taking their names from the relevant sections in the Act - these are guides to the function of and records held by each body, and to their rules and practices. Some 12 per cent of public bodies have not published a Section 16 manual while six per cent have not published a manual under Section 15.