Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information Act 2014 (FOI Act) is a statutory right conferred on all members of the public to access records held by public bodies including An Garda Síochána, while balancing the public interest and the right to privacy of individuals.  An Garda Síochána became subject to the FOI Act on 14th October 2015, as a partially included agency “insofar as it relates to administrative records relating to human resources, or finance or procurement matters”.  This means that only requests for records relating to the following areas may be considered for release:

• Human Resources – records which relate to personal records of staff working within An Garda Síochána.  They also relate to statistical information in respect of the organisation, e.g. resources, sick leave, discipline, suspensions, retirements, bullying and harassment complaints, etc.
• Finance – records which relate to the financial expenditure of the organisation
• Procurement – records which relate to the contracting of services and the tendering process associated with same. 

In keeping in line with the FOI Act, An Garda Síochána provides information about the organisation and its activities via the Publication Scheme and also provides access to the decisions made on requests for non personal information through our Decision Log.  The website also provides additional information about the Garda organisation not included by the FOI Act. 

If you are considering submitting a request for information, it may be useful to review both the Publication Scheme and the Decision Log, as the information you require may already be available on these pages. 

When making your FOI request, you should state that you are making your request under the FOI Act.  Your request should also be as specific as possible to assist us in identifying the related records and, if possible, indicate a time-frame which applies to your request (e.g. all of 2015, January 2016 to July 2016).  The FOI Act applies retrospectively to records created from 21st April, 2008 to date.  The only exemption to this is where personal records are sought.  Please also indicate whether you seek records for Human Resources, Finance, or Procurement. 

You may find it useful to use the standard FOI Application form available in English. 

Contact Details:

Requests can be sent in writing to:

Freedom of Information Office,
An Garda Síochána,
Athlumney House,
IDA Business Park,
Johnstown,
Navan,
Co Meath, C15 ND62

Alternatively, requests can be submitted by email to : foi@garda.ie

If you require any further information or assistance in making a request you can contact us at the email address above or by telephone at +353 46 9036350.