- a legal right for each person to access information held by public bodies;

- a legal right for each person to have official information relating to him/herself amended where it is incomplete, incorrect or misleading;

- a legal right to obtain reasons for decisions affecting oneself.

The Act asserts the right of members of the public to obtain access to official information to the greatest extent possible consistent with the public interest and the right to privacy of individuals.

Routinely Available Information

The Department of Defence currently makes information routinely available to the public in relation to its functions, activities and schemes. Such information will continue to be available informally without the need to use the FOI Act.

The Department has published a reference book, Freedom of Information Act, 1997 Section 15 & 16 Reference Books Vol. 1 - 1998, which provides a guide to the structure of the Department of Defence to help you access information under the FOI Act.

Freedom of Information Section 15 is a guide to the functions and records of the Department of Defence. It outlines the functions of individual sections of the Department as well as the types of records held , ways in which the functions and services are provided to the public and a listing of any publications issued.

Freedom of Information Section 16 gives details of the rules and practices of the Department of Defence. It outlines the various rules, guidelines and precedents that individual sections use in making decisions.

The Strategy Statement for the Department and the Defence Forces is probably the most important source document. The Customer Service Action Plan is also an important source document. Both are available from the Department's FOI Officer or on the Internet (www.defence.ie). The Defence Forces website (www.military.ie) also contains a lot of source information on the Defence Forces and their activities.
The FOI Act is designed to allow public access to information held by public bodies which is NOT routinely available through other sources. Access to information under the Act is subject to certain exemptions and involves specific procedures and time limits.

Under the FOI Act, anyone is entitled to apply for access to information not otherwise publicly available. Each person has a right to:

- access to records held by the Department;

- correction of personal information relating to oneself held by the Department where it is inaccurate, incomplete or misleading;

- access to reasons for decisions made by the Department directly affecting oneself.

The following records come within the scope of the Act:

- all records relating to personal information held by the Department irrespective of when created;

- all other records created from commencement date i.e. 21 April, 1998;

- any other records necessary to the understanding of a current record.

The Department is obliged to respond to the FOI request within 4 weeks.

You can click here to make an online Freedom of Information Request

You can click here to email the Freedom of Information Officer