RTÉ does not have to reveal data in relation to coverage of the 2002 general election following a High Court decision yesterday.
The station had refused a request for information, but this decision was overturned by the Information Commissioner. Mr Justice Ó Caoimh yesterday upheld RTÉ's appeal against the commissioner's decision.
An unnamed "requester" had made the application under the Freedom of Information Act, 1997. The case came before the High Court by way of an appeal on a point of law pursuant to Section 42 of the 1997 Act.
In his reserved judgment, Mr Justice Ó Caoimh said he must conclude in light of the broad ambit of Schedule 3 of the Freedom of Information Act regulations that the commissioner had erred in law in his construction of the regulations which applied to the facts in the case.
In all the circumstances, he added, he must allow RTÉ's appeal and accordingly would set aside the decision of the commissioner.
The commissioner, in his decision of December 5th, 2002, indicated that two sets of data collected by RTÉ fell within the scope of the request. One was gathered using a "contributor tracking" information technology programme, which depended on inputs by production staff, and was in place from January 1st, 2002, to the end of the election campaign on May 15th, 2002.
The second set was gathered by two researchers employed at the beginning of April 2002 to monitor all radio and television outputs for the general election and was in place to the end of the election campaign.
The commissioner indicated that the data constituted a record of how much broadcast time each political party received during the general election campaign. In his decision, the commissioner had indicated that the data were refused by RTÉ on the basis that they related to the editorial process of RTÉ and were not covered by the Act of 1997.
Mr Justice Ó Caoimh said the commissioner had referred to the fact that RTÉ had stated in its earlier decision that the information gathered was "to assist RTÉ in its editorial processes and to work towards balanced programming across its range of output."
The commissioner had indicated that the objective was to establish whether or not a bias in favour of a particular political party was resulting from ongoing programmes and if so to adjust planned programmes to ensure impartiality in accordance with RTÉ's statutory obligations.
The judge said the essential case made by RTÉ was that the commissioner had erred in law by concluding that the data in question should be disclosed notwithstanding the provisions of parts of the third schedule.
Mr Justice Ó Caoimh said he was satisfied RTÉ was entitled to pursue each of the grounds advanced by it in its application to the court, which essentially turned on the interpretation of the regulations. There were no essential issues or facts which were in dispute in the proceedings and all that was in issue was the conclusions reached by the commissioner.