The impact of freedom of information on irish local government

This chapter examines the impact of Freedom of Information on local government in Ireland. It begins by describing the Irish local government context and proceeds by outlining the relevant legislative provisions concerning access to local government information. The Irish Freedom of Information Act was passed in 1997 and came into force in April 1998 for public bodies generally, and in October 1998 for local authorities. The impetus for the introduction of measures aimed at providing for access to environmental information was the adoption of the European Union (EU) Directive on Access to Information on the Environment. Following adoption of the Data Protection Directive, amendments to the original Act were introduced by the Data Protection Act 2003. The tradition of clientilism, or patronage, involving the use by citizens of their elected representatives in the role of ‘go-betweens’ in terms of their dealings with government is a well known and deeply entrenched feature of Irish local and national politics.