Ms X and TUSLA: Child and Family Agency

JurisdictionIreland
JudgeSenior Investigator
Judgment Date18 May 2021
Case OutcomeThe Senior Investigator affirmed TUSLA's decision. She found that section 37(1) applies to the records and that the public interest does not weigh in favour of their release. She also found that no right of access arose further to Regulations made under section 37(8) of the FOI Act.
CourtInformation Commission
RespondentTUSLA: Child and Family Agency
Record NumberOIC-102643-J5H5J8
Whether TUSLA was justified in refusing access to records relating to the applicant and third parties

18 May 2021

Background

The applicant was born in the 1940s and was adopted as a small child. She contacted TUSLA’s adoption information and tracing service in order to find her birth family. TUSLA carried out various searches and provided her with some information. On 7 August 2019, the applicant made an FOI request to TUSLA for access to her file. TUSLA’s decision of 3 February 2020 released some records in full and in part and withheld the remainder under section 37(1) of the FOI Act (personal information). The applicant sought an internal review on 17 February 2020. TUSLA’s internal review decision of 8 December 2020 affirmed its decision on the request. On 13 January 2021, the applicant applied to this Office for a review of TUSLA’s decision. During the review, TUSLA agreed to release a further record.

I have now completed my review in accordance with section 22(2) of the FOI Act and I have decided to conclude it by way of a formal, binding decision. In carrying out my review, I have had regard to the above exchanges and correspondence between this Office, TUSLA and the applicant as well as the contents of the records at issue. I have also taken account of the provisions of the FOI Act. I should also say that, at the time of concluding this review, I have not received any reply to this Office’s letter to the applicant of 25 March 2021.

Scope of the Review

The review is confined to the sole issue of whether TUSLA was justified under the FOI Act in refusing to fully grant the applicant’s request.

The review does not include correspondence between the applicant and TUSLA, which I understand she told TUSLA it need not consider. However, I note that TUSLA says it will provide copies of these records if the applicant wants them. In addition, the review will not consider those details that the applicant has been told were withheld in error from records 1, 10 and 11, which were released from other records.

Preliminary Matters

I acknowledge how very important it is to the applicant to trace her birth family. While I have great sympathy for her, I cannot direct TUSLA to grant her request on this basis. This is because section 13(4) of the FOI Act requires me not to take into account the applicant’s reasons for making her FOI request.

It is also relevant to set out the Commissioner’s position on the provision of records with exempt information redacted. Section 18(1) provides, that "if it is practicable to do so", access to an otherwise exempt record shall be granted by preparing a copy, in such form as the head of the public body concerned considers appropriate, of the record with the exempt information removed. Section 18(1) does not apply, however, if the copy provided for thereby would be misleading (section 18(2) refers).

TUSLA has granted partial access to some of the records. I acknowledge that this was intended to ensure that the applicant would get as much access to information concerning her family history as possible. I appreciate the importance that the applicant may attach to getting further access to even the briefest excerpts of any of the withheld records. However, the Commissioner takes the view that, generally, neither the definition of a record nor the provisions of section 18 envisage or require the extracting of particular sentences or occasional paragraphs from the remainder of such records for the purpose of granting access to those particular sentences or paragraphs.

Finally, the release of records under FOI is, in effect, regarded as release to the world at large given that the Act places no constraints on the uses to which the information contained in those records may be put.

Findings

Personal Information - section 37

TUSLA is relying on section 37(1) of the FOI Act in relation to the remaining withheld records and parts of records.

Section 37(1)

Section 37(1), subject to other provisions of section 37, requires the refusal of access to a record containing personal information. For the purposes of the FOI Act, personal information is defined as information about an identifiable individual that (a) would ordinarily be known only to the individual or members of the family, or friends, of the individual, or (b) is held by a public body on the understanding that it would be treated by it as confidential.

The definition also includes a list of 14 non-exhaustive examples of what must be considered to be personal information, including (i) information relating to the medical history of the individual, (iii) information relating to the employment or employment history of the individual, (viii) information relating to the religion of the individual, (xii) the name of the individual where it appears with other personal information relating to the individual or where disclosure of the name would or would be likely to, establish that any personal information held by the FOI body concerned relates to the...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT