Thread: Every day for the past month, I’ve tweeted documents obtained using Freedom of Information and about the uphill battle we face to ensure continued access to public records. I hoped during government formation talks, it might provoke a public debate about transparency … 
… It didn’t! It does however give a sense of what can be achieved through FOI, from release of Apple tax case fees to Covid-19 postcode data. It also gives a flavour of the difficulties: withholding of political pensions, unrecorded meetings + the state’s beloved “exemptions”
This is a selection of tweets from the last month, starting with the release of fees paid in the Apple tax case to individual lawyers. This practice had been ceased amid concerns over GDPR but was challenged by @RightToKnowIE:
There was also release of Covid-19 data by postal code. This was the first time such a level of detail had been made available. A short time after, the state published even more detailed data:
An overview of Ireland’s controversial Immigrant Investor Programme where high-wealth individuals – mostly from China – can make investment here and secure residency for themselves and their family:
A line by line breakdown of spending by the Irish Prison Service for last year. It is the first time the information has been published in such detail:
Minutes of senior management meetings from the Department of Justice discussing, among other things, the possibility of using camper vans to isolate asylum seekers at risk of Covid-19 infection:
Something a little bit lighter on the costs of Prince William’s visit. FOI can be used to access any information, by anybody – not just journalists – and nobody can even ask you why you want it:
Some of the uphill battles we face. The refusal by the Oireachtas to publish details of pensions, lump sums, and termination pay for former TDs and Senators. A worrying reversal of over a decade of transparency in this area:
The bizarre world of FOI negotiation where government bodies always seem to have the upper hand:
The shadow meeting between Minister Paschal Donohoe and several of his junior minister colleagues about increasing their expenses. Not a single record of it exists in his department:
Some of the new cases I’ve begun over the past month – details of criminal convictions for members of An Garda Síochána and security work carried out on the homes of Oireachtas members:
These internal reviews have been made possible with the support of people here on Twitter. If you want to find out more about making an FOI request yourself:
