Decisions List

The Commissioner found that the Council was not justified in deciding that it held no further information within the scope of the AIE request. He expressed his expectation that the Council will undertake a fully adequate search for relevant information and make a fresh decision on the request.

In accordance with article 12(5) of the Regulations, the Commissioner reviewed daa's internal review decision. He found that daa is a public authority subject to the AIE Regulations, notwithstanding the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2014. He found that daa was not justified in its decision that the agreement does not fall within the definition of "environmental information", as daa had incorrectly applied the provisions of article 3(1) of the AIE Regulations. The Commissioner annulled daa's decision in full and expressed his expectation that daa would make a new decision on the request, in accordance with the AIE Regulations.

The Commissioner found that the AIE request was valid and ought to have been accepted when it was received. He found that there had been a deemed refusal of the request and that the appellant’s subsequent appeal was valid. Accordingly, he was satisfied that he had jurisdiction to conduct a review. The Commissioner found that refusal of the request was not justified and he annulled that decision. However, he went on to find that the request was manifestly unreasonable having regard to the volume and range of information sought. He was satisfied that fully processing the request would have imposed an unreasonable burden on EirGrid. He therefore decided that it would not be appropriate for him to require EirGrid to provide information to the appellant.

In accordance with article 12(5) of the AIE Regulations, the Commissioner reviewed the Council's decision on the appellant's request. The Commissioner noted that the Council holds additional information, which was not taken into account in the Council's internal review decision. He varied the Council's internal review decision and required the Council to provide the appellant with access to eight traffic counts. With regard to article 7(3)(a)(ii) of the AIE Regulations, the Commissioner decided that it was reasonable for the Council to provide access to environmental information in a form other than that requested by the appellant.

The Commissioner found that ESB was not justified in refusing to accept any parts of the AIE request. He therefore found that a decision refusing parts 1 to 7 of the AIE request was deemed to have been made and this refusal was not justified. Accordingly, the Commissioner annulled that decision and expressed his expectation that ESB will now accept and process those parts of the request and inform the appellant of the date by which it can expect a decision.

The Commissioner found that the Courts Service holds information of the type requested while acting in a judicial capacity on behalf of the Judiciary. When acting in such a capacity, the Courts Service is not a public authority within the meaning of article 3(1) the AIE Regulations. Accordingly, the Commissioner found that he has no jurisdiction to review the Courts Service's decision on this AIE request.