Decisions

In accordance with article 12(5) of the Regulations, the Commissioner reviewed RTÉ's decision on the appellant's request. He found that RTÉ's letter of 20 January 2016 constituted a refusal of the appellant's request, and that the appellant's subsequent internal review request was in accordance with article 11 and was not premature. Notwithstanding this, the Commissioner found that refusal of the appellant's request was justified under article 9(2)(a), as the request was manifestly unreasonable having regard to the volume and range of information sought. He considered the public interest test under article 10(3) and found that the public interest in disclosure of information did not outweigh the interests served by refusal in this case.

The Commissioner found that CER's refusal decision was not justified, because CER had not properly considered whether the information which it held contained environmental information within the scope of the request. Accordingly, the Commissioner annulled CER's decision and expressed his expectation that CER would make a fresh decision in accordance with the AIE Regulations.

The Commissioner found that the Council was not justified in refusing the request for the reason given. However, he accepted that the Council later established that it does not hold any environmental information of interest to the appellant. Accordingly, he affirmed the refusal decision, while varying the ground of justification to information not held.

In accordance with article 12(5) of the Regulations, the Commissioner reviewed the Council's decision on the appellant's request. The Commissioner was satisfied that the Council disclosed all relevant information to the appellant at internal review stage. He therefore affirmed the decision of the Council

In accordance with article 12(5) of the Regulations, the Commissioner reviewed the Council's internal review decision on the appellant's request. The Commissioner found that the Council was not justified in applying the ground for refusal under article 9(2)(d). He found that article 10(1) applied to information held by the Council concerning the time and location of the incident, and the composition of chemicals emitted from the Smithstown facility. He found that the grounds for refusal concerning personal information and the interests of third parties under articles 8(a)(i) and (ii) do not apply in this case, since the appellant consented to the redaction of information identifying fire brigade staff and persons who contacted the emergency services. Under article 12(5)(c) of the AIE Regulations, the Commissioner required the Council to make three incident reports available to the appellant, subject to the removal from the reports of names of individual fire brigade staff, and subject to the removal of names and contact details of persons who contacted the emergency services in connection with the Smithstown incident.

The Commissioner found that the request was a valid AIE request which should now be processed by TII in accordance with the AIE Regulations

The Commissioner found that the Department's internal-review decision was not justified, because the decision-maker did not consider the relevant version of the diary. However, since that version is no longer available, the Commissioner was unable to determine if it contained any environmental information. Accordingly, the Commissioner did not consider it appropriate for him to annul the decision or to require the Department to provide the appellant with further information.

The Commissioner found that the Department's internal-review decision was not justified, because the decision-maker did not consider the relevant version of the diary. However, since that version is no longer available, the Commissioner was unable to determine if it contained any environmental information. Accordingly, the Commissioner did not consider it appropriate for him to annul the decision or to require the Department to provide the appellant with further information.

The Commissioner found that the Council was not justified in refusing to provide the appellant with access to a map showing land it had acquired by compulsory purchase, and he required the Council to provide the appellant with a copy of that map

In accordance with article 12(5) of the AIE Regulations, the Commissioner reviewed the decision of IDA Ireland and found that it was justified in refusing access to the information sought under article 7(5) of the Regulations. He affirmed the decision of IDA Ireland accordingly.