The Freedom of Information Legislation was enacted on 21 April 1997. It was applied to local authorities and Health Boards on 21 October 1998. Since then the Act has encompassed more public bodies.
The Freedom of Information legislation establishes three statutory rights:
The Freedom of Information (Amendment) Act was introduced in 2003. This saw the introduction of up-front fees for applications relating to non-personal information. An application fee of €15 must accompany the request or, a fee of €10 for Medical Card Holders.