The Freedom of Information Act gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities (subject to the application of exemptions contained within the Act). It was implemented on January 1, 2005 and covers all information held by public authorities.
The purpose of the Act is to make bodies such as the Police Service more accountable to those that fund them and to make public authorities more transparent to members of the general public.
Under FOI, there is an obligation for publicly-funded bodies to consider requests for information and to provide a response under the terms of the legislation. There is a presumption of disclosure unless the authority can demonstrate harm in release.
Under the Act, public authorities are obliged to make information available through the implementation of two key tools:
