The Department of Health attempted to charge a TD £600 for seeking information under the Freedom of Information Act, the Fine Gael leader said.

Mr John Bruton added that the information sought was "a matter of genuine public interest," which he was entitled to as a public representative. He said the application of charges under the Act was entirely arbitrary and was being used by some departments to discourage inquiries in a way which was entirely at variance with the spirit of the information.

The Taoiseach said the attitude being adopted in his Department was to be as helpful as possible. He said he would investigate Mr Bruton's allegation.

Earlier, Mr Ahern said the Act provided that fees may be charged only in respect of the cost of search for and retrieval of records and the cost of copying them. Fees may not be charged for examination of records or other deliberations involved in processing requests.

The fees for search and retrieval were fixed by reference to the clerical officer scale, which was £16.50 per hour. Copying charges were 3p per copy for photocopies, 40p for a floppy disk, and £8 for a CDROM.

"It is the policy of the Department not to charge fees unless the amount of work involved is substantial. Of the 168 requests received to date, fees have been sought in only five cases. The total amount charged was £176.40."