Thread: So the Department of Justice has finally released those notorious 68 "missing" emails between #TerryProne and #FrancesFitzgerald. Turns out there were actually more than 190, covering a period of more than three years. 
The Department of Justice, as instructed by the Information Commissioner, wrote to #FrancesFitzgerald asking her if she had any documents relevant to the request:
The records themselves are "in the post" so all I have so far is a schedule of 185 emails between #FrancesFitzgerald and/or her special adviser with Terry Prone and/or the Communications Clinic. There were another 23 that the minister volunteered as part of the process.
Department of Justice has made an apology for their failure to discover the records in the first place. They said the original searches were made "in good faith"
These are the type of records involved - lots of advice on speeches, speaking points, draft articles and so on. Much of it relates to day-to-day justice matters. The earliest record is May 2014, the latest is from March 2017:
If you look closely, you'll see exemptions under Section 42 (k) - this is the notorious "private papers" clause. It was most famously used to shield political expenses from scrutiny despite the law having been introduced to protect whistleblowers:
We @RightToKnowIE will definitely be appealing those ones as the relevant standing orders make pretty clear distinction between regular TDs & Senators and "officeholders" i.e. ministers. But that's a battle for another day:
Anyway, to sum up. The good news - this is a big victory on transparency and the reach of Freedom of Information. The less good news - the records themselves may not be that terribly exciting (though that remains to be seen).
Appealing these cases is not free. So please do support us with whatever you can over on @RightToKnowIE at: righttoknow.ie/support-us/ And to those who've already donated, thank you very much.
