Mr X and Defence Forces

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Senior Investigator
• Judgment Date: 20 August 2021
• Case Outcome: The Senior Investigator affirmed the decision of the Defence Forces.
• Court: Information Commission
• Respondent: Defence Forces
• Record Number: OIC-105612-N4W3M4

Whether the Defence Forces was justified in refusing to provide the applicant with a statement of reasons as to why he was recommended for a certain specified course but not another specified course on the ground that no such refusal occurred, whether it was justified in redacting certain information from the records released under section 37(1), and (iii) whether it was justified in refusing access to any other relevant records under section 15(1)(a) of the FOI Act

20 August 2021

Background

The applicant is a member of the Defence Forces. In a request dated 7 July 2020, he sought

i. “… the reasons and decisions why I was recommended for the Sheet Metal Structural Repair Course but not the AW139 Maintenance Course (AW139) …” and

ii. “… any information/emails or handwritten notes relating to me on this”.

The Defence Forces refused the request under section 15(1)(a) of the FOI Act on the ground that no relevant records could be found. In essence, its position was that it had no record of the applicant having applied for the AW139 maintenance course. The applicant subsequently sought a review by this Office of the decision taken by the Defence Forces on his request. In my decision of 7 December 2020 in cases OIC-98411 and OIC-98243, I found that while the Defence Forces had taken all reasonable steps to locate records relating to the AW139 maintenance course and that no such records could be found, it had failed to search for records relating to the sheet metal structural repair course that I accepted to be captured by the request. I also found that the Defence Forces had failed to properly consider the application for a statement of reasons. I annulled the decision of the Defence Forces and remitted the matter to it for consideration afresh.

On 15 February 2021, the Defence Forces issued a fresh decision on the request. It released a number of records it deemed relevant to the request including two records relating to the structural repair course, with the redaction of a small amount of information from three records on the ground that the redacted information comprised personal information relating to third parties. In relation to the statement of reasons sought, it said that as no record of an application for the AW139 Maintenance Course could be located it was not possible to provide a statement of reasons.

On 23 February 2021, the applicant sought an internal review of that decision. On 12 March 2021, the Defence Forces issued its internal review decision wherein it said that the reason why the applicant was “not recommended for AW139 maintenance course was that no evidence of any course application submitted by [him] for this course was found during the search for documentation and therefore no expression of interest was logged by the Air Corps”.

On 25 March 2021, the applicant sought a review by this Office of that decision, wherein he argued that records relating to the AW139 maintenance course should exist as he allegedly submitted the application on the same day as the application for the structural repair course.

I have now completed my review in accordance with section 22(2) of the FOI Act. In carrying out my review, I have had regard to the correspondence between the Defence Forces and the applicant, and to the communications between this Office and both the applicant and...