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Statutory Rights Under FOI

Under the FOI Act 2014, anyone is entitled to apply for access to information not otherwise publicly available. Each person has a right of:

access to records held by DIAS;
correction of personal information relating to oneself held by DIAS where it is inaccurate, incomplete or misleading; and
access to reasons for decisions made by DIAS directly affecting the person.

The text of the Freedom of Information legislation may be inspected at the website of the Office of the Information Commissioner at www.oic.gov.ie. The following records come within the scope of the Acts:

Records containing personal data on individuals; All records relating to personal information held by DIAS irrespective of when created.
Records containing personnel data;
Personnel records of serving staff created from 21 April, 1995, and those created prior to that date where they are being used, or proposed to be used, in a way which adversely affects or may affect the person involved.
Other records.

Any other records created in DIAS from the commencement of the FOI Act (21 April 1998), that are not covered by one of the exemptions in the Act. However, where records created after 21 April 1998 cannot be understood without access to records created before this date, then there is a right of access to the earlier records.A record will not come within the scope of the FOI Act where it is:

already publicly available
available under another enactment (except the Data Protection Act: requests for personal data may be made under either Act)
In some cases, access may be refused to some categories of records under the exemptions contained in the Act.

DIAS currently makes information routinely available to the public about its functions and activities. This information continues to be available without the need to use the FOI Act. The most important available sources of information on Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies are: