Access to Information on Environment

You may apply for access to information on the environment, making your application to: Information Officer, Standards in Public Office Commission, 6 Earlsfor Terrace, Dublin 2, D02 W773.

How to apply

If you are requesting information under the Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) Regulations, you must:

• Say that you are applying under the AIE Regulations and send it to the address above or by email info@sipo.ie
• Provide your contact details
• Specify the information you require, and the way you want to access it.

You will usually be given a decision within a month of receiving your request.

What if I am unhappy with a decision on my request?

If your request – or part of it – for environmental information was refused, or, you believe it was not dealt with properly under AIE Regulations, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the decision. You must make your request within a month of getting the decision.

The review, which is free of charge, will be carried out someone more senior to the person who made the original decision.

Within a month of receiving your request, we will send you the outcome of the review, telling you the reason for the decision and advising you of your right of appeal to the Commissioner for Environmental Information. We will give you details about the time limits and fees associated with an appeal.

Fees

There is no initial fee when requesting information from our office, under AIE regulations. A public authority may, however, charge a fee for supplying environmental information in accordance with the regulations.

The fees involve:

• If you want hard copies, there may be a fee of €0.04 per sheet depending on the volume of information requested.
• A charge of €10.16 applies if you are getting the information on CD-ROM.

We will give you details of charges, if there are any, in our final decision letter.

How will our Office supply information free of charge?

• If the cost of supplying information is estimated at less than €10, you may not be asked to pay.
• There will be no charge if you are accessing the documents at our offices. However, the charges listed above may apply.
• You may access information through email, free of charge. However, the charges listed above may apply.

Assistance in making requests

A publication scheme under the Freedom of Information Act 2014 – which will include a guide to our functions and the records we hold – is available on our website.

If you have any queries, contact the information officer at +353 (0)1 6395666 or email aie@sipo.ie

Information point

This website is an information point arising from the AIE Directive. If you require environmental information not available on the website, send an AIE request or contact the information officer, as outlined above.

Further information

Further general information on the European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007–2011, including background information on the legislation, useful publications and links to other relevant bodies, is available in the AIE section of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government website. See: http://www.environ.ie/en/Environment/AccesstoInformationontheEnvironment/