Freedom of Information Act 2014

42.

Restriction of Act

42. This Act does not apply to—

(a) a record held by—

(i) the courts, or

(ii) a service tribunal within the meaning of section 161 of the Defence Act 1954,

and relating to, or to proceedings in, a court or such a tribunal, other than—

(I) a record that relates to proceedings in a court or such a tribunal held in public but was not created by the court or tribunal and whose disclosure to the general public is not prohibited by the court or the tribunal, or

(II) a record relating to the general administration of the courts or the offices of the courts or such a tribunal or any offices of such a tribunal,

(b) a record held or created by the Garda Síochána that relates to any of the following:

(i) the Emergency Response Unit;

(ii) the Secret Service Fund maintained by it;

(iii) the Special Detective Unit (SDU);

(iv) the witness protection programme sponsored by it;

(v) the Security and Intelligence Section;

(vi) the management and use of covert intelligence operations;

(vii) the Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) Act 1993;

(viii) the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act 2005;

(ix) the Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Act 2009;

(x) the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011,

(c) a record held by—

(i) the Criminal Assets Bureau,

(ii) the Defence Forces relating to—

(I) the Offences against the State Acts 1939 to 1998,

(II) section 170 of the Defence Act 1954,

(III) the Interception of Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) Act 1993,

(IV) the Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act 2005,

(V) the Criminal Justice (Surveillance) Act 2009,

(VI) the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011, or

(VII) the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 in respect of the statutory powers of an officer under section 8 of the Data Protection Act 1988,

(iii) the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (within the meaning of the Criminal Justice (Location of Victims’ Remains) Act 1999), F5[]

(iv) the Independent Monitoring Commission F6[(within the meaning of the Independent Monitoring Commission Act 2003), and],

F7[(v) the Independent Reporting Commission established by the Agreement (within the meaning of the Independent Reporting Commission Act 2017),]

(d) a record relating to—

(i) an inquiry within the meaning of section 42 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, whether the record concerned is held by—

(I) persons conducting the inquiry, or

(II) on the dissolution of the inquiry, any other body having custody of such a record,

other than—

(A) a record relating to the appointment of a person to conduct an inquiry under section 42 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, or

(B) a record relating to the expenses or other matters concerning the general administration of an inquiry under that section,

(e) a record relating to—

(i) an inquiry into any matter by a tribunal to which the Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence) Act 1921, is applied, whether the record concerned—

(I) is held by the tribunal of inquiry, or

(II) is deposited with a person, or at a place, in compliance with the requirements of a notice under section 46(1) of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011 given to the chairman or former chairman, as the case may be, of the tribunal of inquiry,

or

(ii) an investigation by a commission of investigation within the meaning of the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004, whether the record concerned is held by—

(I) the commission of investigation,

(II) the specified Minister after being deposited with him or her under section 43(2) of the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004,

(III) a tribunal of inquiry after being made available to it under section 45 of that Act, or

(IV) a body after being transferred to it on the dissolution of a tribunal of inquiry to which the record was made available under section 45 of that Act,

other than—

(A) a record created before the appointment of the tribunal or the making of the order establishing the commission, or

(B) a record relating to the expenses of the tribunal or commission or other matters concerning the general administration of the tribunal or commission,

(C) a record relating to the appointment of persons under section 7 or 8 of the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004,

F8[(ea) a record held by the CervicalCheck Tribunal (in this paragraph referred to as "the Tribunal") or, after the Tribunal has been dissolved, the Minister for Health, relating to the Tribunal, other than a record relating to the expenses of the Tribunal or other matters concerning the general administration of the Tribunal,]

(f) a record held or created by the Attorney General or the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Office of the Attorney General or the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions, other than a record relating to general administration,

(g) a record relating to an audit, inspection, investigation or examination carried out by the Comptroller and Auditor General under the Comptroller and Auditor General Acts 1923 to 1993, the Exchequer and Audit Department Acts 1866 and 1921, or any other enactment, other than —

(i) such a record that was created before the commencement of the investigation, audit, inspection or examination aforesaid, or

(ii) a record relating to the general administration of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General,

(h) a record relating to the President,

(i) a record held by the Central Bank of Ireland, the disclosure of which is prohibited by—

(i) the Rome Treaty,

(ii) the ESCB Statute, or

(iii) any of the Supervisory Directives,

within the meaning of the Central Bank Act 1942,

(j) a record given by an FOI body to a member of the Government or a Minister of State for use by him or her for the purposes of any proceedings in either House of the Oireachtas or any committee of either or both of such Houses or any subcommittee of such a committee (including such proceedings in relation to questions put by members of either such House to members of the Government or Ministers of State (whether answered orally or in writing)),

F9[(ja) a record relating to a report, within the meaning of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 , made under that Act, whether the report was made before or after the date of the passing of the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022,]

(k) a record relating to any of the private papers (within the meaning of Article 15.10 of the Constitution) of a member of either House of the Oireachtas or an official document of either or both of such Houses that is required by the rules or standing orders of either or both of such Houses to be treated as confidential,

(l) unless consent has been lawfully given for its disclosure, a record relating to any private paper or confidential communication, within the meaning of Part 10 of the Houses of the Oireachtas (Inquiries, Privileges and Procedures) Act 2013, or official document, within the meaning of Part 11 of that Act, or

(m) a record relating to information whose disclosure could reasonably be expected to reveal, or lead to the revelation of—

(i) the identity of a person who has provided information in confidence in relation to the enforcement or administration of the law to an FOI body, or where such information is otherwise in its possession, or

(ii) any other source of such information provided in confidence to an FOI body, or where such information is otherwise in its possession.

Annotations

Amendments:

F5

Deleted (8.08.2017) by Independent Reporting Commission Act 2017 (25/2017), s. 9(a), S.I. No. 369 of 2017.

F6

Substituted (8.08.2017) by Independent Reporting Commission Act 2017 (25/2017), s. 9(b), S.I. No. 369 of 2017.

F7

Inserted (8.08.2017) by Independent Reporting Commission Act 2017 (25/2017), s. 9(c), S.I. No. 369 of 2017.

F8

Inserted (27.10.2020) by CervicalCheck Tribunal Act 2019 (31/2019), s. 40, S.I. No. 453 of 2020.

F9

Inserted (1.01.2023) by Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 (27/2022), s. 20(a), S.I. No. 510 of 2022.

F10

Inserted by Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity)(Amendment) Act 2022 (46/2022), s. 104, not commenced as of date of revision.

Modifications (not altering text):

C7

Prospective affecting provision: para. (eb) inserted by Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Act 2022 (46/2022), s. 104, not commenced as of date of revision.

F10[(eb) a record relating to an investigation under section 15, 30, 47, 76 or 88 of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 that has been, or is being, carried out by the Director of the Decision Support Service or a person to whom he or she has delegated his or her functions under section 98(2) of that Act.]