This article is from page 13 of the 2006-01-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
THE number of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests made to Clare County Council dropped by 18 per cent last year, while the council’s refusal rate increased by 19 per cent in the same period.
Comprehensive statistics provided by the council’s Freedom of Information Unit reveal that since its inception, the council has received 522 requests during the eight-year operation of the legislation. However, over the past five years, the number of requests has almost halved, from the high of 97 in 2001 to 55 last year – a drop of 43 per cent. The council’s refusal rate has fluctuated over the past five years with the average, over the eight-year operation of the scheme, at 32 per cent.
The figures show that of the 38 decisions made, grants were made in 12 decisions, nine were part-granted, while 17 were refused. Over the eight years, the council department which has been the subject of most FOI requests has been Planning, receiving 23 per cent.
Environment received 19.5 per cent, and Housing 15 per cent. Forty-five appeals were made internally against decisions to refuse or part-refuse.
At this month’s adjourned council meeting, the decision to refuse details of bonus payments to the County Manager and Directors of Service prompted Cllr Tom Prendeville (FF) to claim that there was a creeping culture of secrecy in the public sector.