Freedom of Information

The Act asserts the right of members of the public to obtain access to official information to the greatest extent possible, consistent with the public interest and the right to privacy. The Freedom of Information Act derives from the following broad principles:

The right of the individual to;

• Know what information is held in government records about him or her subject to certain exemptions

• Inspect files held about or relating to him or her

• Have inaccurate material on file corrected

The Act establishes three new statutory rights:

• A legal right for each person to access information held by public bodies
• A legal right for each person to have official information relating to him/herself amended where it is incomplete, incorrect or misleading
• A legal right to obtain reasons for decisions affecting oneself

These rights mean that people can seek access to personal information held on them no matter when the information was created and to other records created after 21st April 1998.

The following manual and electronic records may be sought:

• All records created from commencement date

• All personal records irrespective of when created

• Any other records necessary to the understanding of a current record

• All personnel records of staff in public bodies created less than 3 years before commencement. Earlier records may be accessed if they are liable to be used in a way that might adversely affect the interests of the member of staff involved

Under the FOI Act, anyone is entitled to seek access to information not otherwise publicly available. Each person has a right to:

• Access records held by the University
• Correction of personal information relating to him/her held by the University where it is inaccurate, incomplete or misleading
• Request access to reasons for decisions made by Management directly affecting to him/her

The University routinely makes information available to the public through the website, library etc., this will continue. Freedom of Information provides an additional source of information by facilitating access to records not routinely available.

Under the Act a record includes:

1. a book or other written or printed material in any form (including in any electronic device or in machine readable form),
2. a map, plan or drawing,
3. a disc, tape or other mechanical or electronic device in which data other than visual images are embodied so as to be capable, with or without the aid of some other mechanical or electronic equipment, of being reproduced from the disc, tape or other device,
4. a film, disc, tape or other mechanical or electronic device in which visual images are embodied so as to be capable, with or without the aid of some other mechanical or electronic equipment, of being reproduced from the film, disc, tape or other device

• Under Section 11 of the Act, staff are entitled to seek access to their personnel records, created on or after 21st October, 1995 (i.e. up to three years prior to the commencement of the Act).

• An earlier record can be accessed if it is being used, or proposed to be used, in a way which adversely affects the staff member.

• Records relating to all recruitment and selection competitions will be disposed of after 12 months from the date of interview. Application forms and Interview Board recommendations relating to staff who are appointed will be retained.

• Every effort will be made to facilitate staff to access information contained in their personnel files outside the Freedom of Information Act. If staff wish to take this route then they should apply in writing to the Human Resources Department for access to their files.

• In general, no one else has the right of access to your personal records unless you give your consent in writing. Anyone making a request for records may be asked

In certain circumstances it will be necessary to exempt from release, certain types of information. These are set out in detail in the Freedom of Information Act 2014 (Section 28-41 & Section 15)

• All applications must be in writing by email or post and should indicate that the information is sought under the Freedom of Information Act 2014.

• Requests should be as specific as possible to enable the relevant information to be efficiently identified and retrieved.

• If information is desired in a particular format i.e. photocopy, computer disk, etc. the requester should also indicate this in their application.

• The requester may be required to prove his/her identity, particularly when requesting personal information using an acceptable form of identification, i.e. passport, driving licence, birth certificate, etc.

The Freedom of Information Officer of the University will be happy to assist the requester in the formulation of their request at all times. e: [email protected]

South East Technological University Decision Makers & Internal Reviewers

The University's FOI Unit provides assistance to persons with a disability who want to exercise their rights under the FOI Act (e.g. accepting oral requests from requesters who are unable to read, print and/or write due to their disability, enabling the requester to inspect of have records explained to him or her).

For further information, please contact the FOI Unit [email protected]

• There is no charge when making an FOI request.

• Fees may be charged in respect of the time spent in efficiently locating and retrieving records, based on a standard hourly rate of €20.00. Photocopying charges of 4 cent per page may also apply;

• There is a minimum threshold of €101 below which no search, retrieval and copying fees can be charged. Once the charge reaches €101, full fees apply;

• There is a cap on the amount of search, retrieval and copying fees that can be charged of €500;

• There is a further upper limit on estimated search, retrieval and copying fees at €700 above which an FOI body can refuse to process a request, unless the requester is prepared to refine the request to bring the search, retrieval and copying fees below the limit;

• The fee for internal review under Section 21 is €30 (€10 for medical card holders and their dependants)

• The fee for appeals to the Information Commissioner under Section 22 is €50 (€15 for medical card holders and their dependants)

In respect of personal records, copying charges only will apply where a large number of records are involved.

Under the Act, the University is obliged to:

• Acknowledge receipt of the request within two weeks
• Make a decision on the request within four weeks (or eight weeks in certain limited circumstances)

If a response is not issued within four weeks the request is deemed to have been refused and the requester can proceed to the internal review stage.

Yes. It may be appealed to an Internal Reviewer within four weeks of being notified of the initial decision. The review will be carried out by an official, senior to the person who made the original decision. The review must be completed within three weeks.

If you are unhappy with the review, you have the right to appeal the decision to the Information Commissioner. (Section 22) Appeals, in writing, may be made to the Appeals Commissioner at the following address: Office of the Information Commissioner, 18 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2

There is a right of appeal to the High Court, on a point of law only, in certain circumstances.

Section 8 of the Freedom of Information Act 2014 requires FOI bodies to prepare and publish as much information as possible in an open and accessible manner on a routine basis outside of FOI, having regard to the principles of openness, transparency and accountability as set out in Sections 8(5) and 11(3) of the Act. This allows for the publication or giving of records outside of FOI provided that such publication or giving of access is not prohibited by law. The scheme commits FOI bodies to make information available as part of their normal business activities in accordance with this scheme. Please see links below to South East Technological University Carlow and Waterford Campuses Section 8 Publication Schemes.

South East Technological University Section 8 Publication Scheme Waterford Campus

South East Technological University Section 8 Publication Scheme Carlow Campus

• Central Policy Unit - Department of Finance »

• Office of Information Commissioner »

• FOI Act 2014 »

The Freedom of Information Act 2014 requires Freedom of Information (FOI) bodies such as SETU Carlow to publish a disclosure log, which contains details of the types of requests received under FOI.

• SETU FOI Disclosure Log 2023
• SETU FOI Disclosure Log 2022 (May–December)

Disclosures are listed in order of the date the request was received by SETU Carlow. Please note that, for privacy reasons, identifying information such as the name of the requester or requests for personal information is not included in the disclosure log.