Annual Report 2008 - Text

Appeals to the High Court

Since the inception of the FOI Act, a party to a review carried out by my Office, or any other person who is affected by a decision resulting from such a review, has a right to appeal to the High Court on a point of law. The FOI Amendment Act 2003 in 2003 further provided that a judgment of the High Court is open to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The past year saw a good deal of activity in terms of litigation. The High Court delivered judgments in two appeals taken against decisions of my Office. One appeal was upheld and one was dismissed. Summaries of these two appeals can be found in Chapter 2 of this Report.

The first appeal - Minister for Education & Science -v- Information Commissioner: [2008] IEHC 279 - which related to five similar decisions issued by my Office in December 2005 was heard in July 2008 and the High Court gave its judgment in August 2008.

The second appeal - H. S. E. -v- Information Commissioner [2008] IEHC 298 - which related to a decision which issued from my Office in March 2007, was heard in July 2008 and the High Court gave its judgment in October 2008.

At the time of writing, a judgment of the High Court is awaited on an appeal heard on various dates in 2007 and 2008 and on an appeal heard in November 2008. The one case initiated against a 2008 FOI review decision is still at a preliminary stage.

A further seven appeals to the High Court were concluded during 2008 as follows:

one was settled by court order;
three were remitted back to my Office by agreement for fresh consideration - one of these was subsequently withdrawn;
two were withdrawn before hearing by the appellant (a public body in both cases);
one was struck out by the Court.

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