Rights of Review and Appeal

The Freedom of Information Act sets out appeal mechanisms in the event of a refusal of a request, or in relation to deferral of access, charges, form of access etc.  Details of these appeal mechanisms are as follows:

Internal Review

You may seek Internal Review of the initial decision, which will be carried out by an official at a higher level if:

• you are dissatisfied with the initial response received i.e. refusal of information, form of access, charges etc. or,
• you have not received a reply within four weeks of your initial application. This is deemed to be a refusal of your request and allows you to proceed to Internal Review.

Requests for Internal Review should be submitted within four weeks of the initial decision by writing to the FOI officer at the above address.  A fee of €75 must accompany most applications, however, a reduced fee of €25 applies if you are covered by a medical card.  There is no fee for internal review applications concerning only personal information relating to oneself or in relation to a decision to impose a fee or deposit.

Meath County Council must complete the review within three weeks.  The Internal Review must normally be completed before an appeal may be made to the Information Commissioner.

Review by the Information Commissioner

You may seek independent review by the Information Commissioner if:

• following completion of the Internal Review procedure, you are dissatisfied with the decision; or,
• you have not received a reply to your request for Internal review within three weeks of your application. This is deemed to be a refusal and you may appeal the matter to the Commissioner.

Appeals in writing may be made directly to the Information Commissioner at the following address:

Office of the Information Commissioner,
18 Lower Lesson Street,
Dublin 2.

A fee of €150 must accompany most applications for review by the Information Commissioner.  A reduced fee of €50 applies if you are covered by a medical card or in relation to a review concerning certain third party information.  There is no fee for review applications concerning only personal information relating to oneself or in relation to decisions to impose fees or deposits.