Applications for information held by the Health Service Executive (HSE) increased by 15 per cent last year, according to the Office of the Information Commissioner.
Overall, freedom-of-information (FOI) requests to public bodies generally rose by 13 per cent from 31,591 to 35,673 for the year, according to the commissioner’s annual report published on Wednesday.
Marking its release, commissioner Ger Deering welcomed recent moves by the Government to hold public consultation on the review of the Act which is used by people to access information that may otherwise be difficult to obtain.
Mr Deering, who was appointed to the office in January, said his office had already made a number of proposals for its improvement.
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The HSE attracted the highest number of information requests last year at 10,025. It was followed by the Department of Social Protection (1,733); Tusla, the child and family agency (1,365); Tallaght University Hospital (994); and the Department of Justice (903), all of which recorded increases on the previous year.
Clients of public bodies were the largest users of the FOI system at just over half; followed in order by members of the media, businesses, staff of public bodies and members of the Oireachtas.
The information commissioner received 687 applications to review decisions, up from 584 in 2020.
Just as the popularity of the system appeared to increase, Mr Deering expressed concern over the high percentage of so-called deemed refusals, cases where no decision is made by a public body. Almost a third of all requests for reviews led to such outcomes.
A decision by the Houses of the Oireachtas Service not to release the large majority of records relating to compliance with Covid-19 measures by its members was overturned by the office on public-interest grounds, and was described as one of the most notable decisions last year.
Separately, a refusal by Meath County Council to release audio and video recordings of special planning meetings was also reversed.
