Freedom of Information Officer
Corporate Services, City Hall, The Mall, Waterford, X91 PK15
Contact Person: Lisa Grant
Freedom of Information Requests
The Freedom of Information Act 2014 gives you the legal right to:
- Access your personal records and other official records of Waterford City & County Council
- Correct or update personal information held about you by Waterford City & County Council, where this information is incomplete, incorrect or misleading
- Be given the reasons behind any decisions taken by Waterford City & County Council that affect you.
The Freedom of Information Act 2014 gives you a legal right to request any recorded information held by Waterford City & County Council. You can ask for any information you think the council may hold. The right only covers recorded information. Your request can be in the form of a question, but the council does not have to answer your question if this would mean creating a new record or giving an opinion or judgement that is not already recorded.
You should clearly identify the information you want.
How far back does FOI apply?
In general, the FOI Act relates to information created after April 1998. However, the following situations are exempt from this:
- You can access your personal information regardless of when it was created if it is still in existence.
- Non-personal information created prior to April 1998 where it makes sense of the current record.
Making an FOI request
To submit a request, email foi@waterfordcouncil.ie or submit a written request to:
FOI Officer, Waterford City & County Council, City Hall, The Mall, Waterford.
Please note, you must state that the information is being requested under the Freedom of Information Act to be a valid request. And to avoid delays in processing your request, please try to be as specific as possible.
Examples of invalid FOIs include requests that seek:
‘all records about me…’
‘every record about me..’
‘all records to include notes, emails, minutes..’
Examples of valid FOIs include:
‘Under the Freedom of Information Act 2014 I request records in relation to my Housing Rents file for the last 2 years’.
or
‘Under the Freedom of Information Act 2014 I request records of CRMs relating to abandoned vehicles for the period 2023 to 2025’.
If you are requesting records of a personal nature, you will be required to provide your proof of identity by way of official photo identification (passport, driver’s licence or public services card) before the records can be released to you.
What happens next?
Your request will proceed through the following steps:
- We will acknowledge receipt of your request within two weeks.
- We will make a decision within four weeks (note, if the request is particularly complex or there are large numbers of records involved, this may be extended to eight weeks). In general, if we do not respond within four weeks, the Act deems your request to have been refused. You are then entitled to request an Internal Review – see below ‘Can I appeal a decision?’
- Decisions will generally be issued via email unless another format is requested.
Is there a fee?
Requests for personal information under FOI are free. Requests for non-personal information may incur fees as listed below if there is a lot of search and retrieval work involved, including photocopying.
- There is no fee where the cost of search, retrieval and copying is less than €101 (less than five hours work).
- There is a €20.00 per hour search and retrieval fee and €0.04 per sheet for a photocopy where this exceeds the €101 free allowance.
- There is a maximum of €500 charge where the cost of search, retrieval and copying is greater than €500, but less than €700.
- Where the cost of search, retrieval and copying is greater than €700, we can refuse to process the request. You will be given the opportunity to refine your request.
- Internal review for non-personal requests incurs a fee of €30 (€10 for medical card holders).
- An appeal to the Information Commissioner for non-personal requests costs €50 (€15 for medical card holders).
Is an FOI request always necessary?
No. The information you are seeking may already be available. Waterford City & County Council’s policy is to make as much information as possible available outside of the Freedom of Information process. The FOI Act allows access to information that is not routinely available.
Waterford City & County Council’s FOI publication scheme, as required under Section 8 of the FOI Act, provides routinely available information. In addition, there is a wide range of information available on our website.
The Publication Scheme allows for the publication or giving of records outside of FOI provided that such publication or giving of access is not prohibited by law. The scheme commits FOI bodies to make information available as part of their normal business activities in accordance with this scheme.
Each link below leads to a page comprising relevant information in that category as well as links to relevant information on the Waterford City and County Council website. If the information you require cannot be found here, you may wish to contact our Freedom of Information Officer at foi@waterfordcouncil.ie.
If the information is not currently made publicly available by Waterford City & County Council, you may then wish to consider making a Freedom of Information request.
Openness & Transparency Our Services Governance Related Financial Information FOI Disclosure LogsWill I receive all the information I request?
It may not be possible to release all of the records you seek access to. Some records may be released in redacted form or refused outright. This will be the case where records contain sensitive material or relate to a third party. Your request may also be refused if it is deemed to be too extensive or unclear. You will be given assistance in this instance to refine your request. If your request is refused, either in part or entirely, you must be given reasons for the refusal which are supported by ‘exemptions’ in the Freedom of Information Act.
Exemptions are conditions under which certain records are protected. This includes records relating to legal advice, investigations and records relating to another individual. Some are refused outright and some are tested to see if release of the records could be reasonably expected to cause harm.
Can you appeal an FOI decision?
Yes, if your request is initially refused or part-refused you may appeal this decision to a higher officer within Waterford City & County Council and this is called an Internal Review.
Again, appeal requests must be received in writing at the address below. If your request is for non-personal records, a fee of €30 made payable to Waterford City & County Council would apply at this stage.
Can you appeal the Internal Review decision?
Yes, if you are still not satisfied following the Internal Review process, you may seek an independent review of our decision through The Office of the Information Commissioner. The decisions of the Information Commissioner are binding. However, you can appeal a decision to the High Court on a point of law. Requests for appeal should be made to the Office of the Information Commissioner within six months of receiving notification of our decision.
Appeals should be directed to: Office of the Information Commissioner, 18 Lower Lesson Street, Dublin 2.
Phone: 1890 223030 Email: info@oic.ie
You must include a fee of €50 with your request. A reduced fee of €15 applies if you are covered by a medical card or in relation to a review concerning third party information. There is no fee for review applications concerning only personal information relating to oneself or in relation to decisions to impose fees or deposits.
