An Appeal To The Information Commissioner

The Department of Education has excluded some documents from their response to my Freedom of Information request, on the grounds that the documents were provided on the understanding of confidentiality. These records were provided by the Roman Catholic Church in the context of seeking State-funded supports for their training courses in faith formation, to be delivered to teachers in publicly funded schools. I have submitted the following appeal to the Information Commissioner and all documents relating to this appeal are available in full at the bottom of this page.

Dear Information Commissioner,

I would like to appeal a recent decision of the Department of Education (DoE) with respect to my Freedom Of Information (FoI) request. The context is a FoI request that I first submitted in January of 2018, seeking all records and communications exchanged between the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST) and representatives of the Roman Catholic Church, regarding joint training courses that they delivered together during 2016. Over the subsequent five years, the successive responses that I have received to this request were as follows:

First I was told that there were no joint training courses delivered by the PDST with the Roman Catholic Church during that year, and there was no communication with representatives of the Church during that year. This was not a credible response, as several such events had been advertised publicly on diocesan web pages. Indeed this response turned out to be false, as there were eight such joint training events during 2016.
Next I was told that the DoE had no record of any joint training events arranged between the PDST and the Roman Catholic Church. This was also false as the PDST had sent annual reports to the DoE, listing all such events.
Subsequently, I was told that there were only records of two emails between the PDST and the Roman Catholic Church, as most of the events were arranged exclusively by phone. This was not a credible response as an annual report listing attendee numbers at each event could not have been produced from memory. Indeed this turned out to be false, as there were in fact dozens of emails between the PDST and the Roman Catholic Church arranging the dates and locations of all eight events.

In relation to the current FoI request, it is clear that training materials produced by the PDST for the relevant events are within the scope of the documents sought. Specifically, my FoI request states as follows:

“I would like to make a formal request for access to records under the Freedom of Information Act, 2014. In accordance with Section 12 of the Act, I am requesting access to all non-personal records within PDST relating to communications with the Le Chéile Schools Trust during the calendar year 2016 … Also, specifically within the scope of this FoI request are all presentations, training materials, meeting minutes, communications or other records …”
Extract from my FoI Request

The DoE now claims that their search for records did not locate any such training materials. This is not a credible claim. For example, one of the relevant emails written by the Le Chéile Schools Trust (which comprises fifteen Roman Catholic religious orders) states as follows:

“I am delighted to say that Gary Carley [from the PDST] has kindly agreed to give workshops again this year following the great feedback to his session last year. For those of you who could not make it I attach the resources he gave out last year …”
Extract of email from the Le Chéile Schools Trust

The contents of the attachment to this email should be included within the scope of my FoI request. The idea that the PDST has since destroyed all copies of the training materials they delivered alongside the Roman Catholic Church, is not credible.

Moreover, in relation to other materials sent to the PDST by the Le Chéile Schools Trust, the DoE has refused to share these materials for spurious confidentiality reasons. The context for these communications involves the Roman Catholic Church seeking State-funded resources from the PDST to support joint training events. The materials are for presentation to teachers in State-funded schools. There should be no expectation of confidentiality in this context, and there is no reason why these materials should remain secret. This is evident even from the present FoI response, which has released to me all documents within Record 9, while refusing to release any documents within Record 10. From the Decision Schedule, Record 9 contains the following documents that were each released to me in full.

Mother Teresa – Life is Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa – Power Point
Mother Teresa – Quotes
Mother Teresa – A Life less ordinary
Mother Teresa – Tale of Two Spiritualities

In contrast, while Record 10 contains a similar list of materials, the release of these documents has been refused on the basis that it represents “information that was obtained in confidence on the understanding that it would be treated in confidence”. There is no basis on which the following list of files within Record 10 can be distinguished from those in Record 9, with respect to confidentiality:

Non_Exam_Senior_Cycle
1st Year Plan 2016-2017. correct
2nd Year Plan 2015-2016
3rd Year Plan 2016-2017 correct
10 things women couldn’t do in 1970!
CATHOLIC BINGO
A Movie About Me
Catholic Church Mission Directors
Contact list of Religious Orders
CROSSWORD_TOLERANCE
DIRECTORY OF PEACE AND RECONCILIATION ORGANISATIONS
Enneagram Notes
Eric Clapton – Tears in Heaven
Feminism questionnaire
Fix_You_by_Coldplay[1]
Guide to Meditation _ Prayer Powerpoint
History Plan 2015-2016 Final Draft (1)
HOLY CROSS DISPUTE AND WORKSHEET
HOLY ORDERS AND WORKSHEET
INTERFAITH DIALOGUE
JPII Awards Presentation
Kanye West- KATIE ALANNA CLAIRE AND LAUREN
LCRE Year Plan 2015-2016
MICHAEL_S VOCATION AND WORKSHEET
Missing Women Movie
Moonlight Sonata Powerpoint
MOTHER TERESA AND WORKSHEET
murder mystery
Music_and_Religion1
Numeracy and literacy
Paul Ginnis
PENTECOST AND WORKSHEET
prejudice_and_discrimination_1
Presentation1 lisa shenda and emma 20122
PROJECT IDEA VOCATION
RECONCILIATION WEBSITES
Religion and Gender by Sandra Cullen
Religion Project5th
RELIGIOUS CONFLICT WORDSEARCH
sarah cliona and katie music project
SEAN CORKERY_S CALLING AND WORKSHEET
SECTARIANISM NOTES
SECTARIANISM WORKSHEETS
section_d_-_the_question_of_faith
section_f_-_the_moral_challenge 2015
Sex, Death and the Gods – video Life and style guardian.
She sat in jail for eight years
SIMON_S STORY AND WORKSHEET
SOME VOCATION WEBSITES AND RESOURCES
Stereotyping
STUDENT REFLECTIONS
THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT AND WORKSHEET
TY PLAN 2016 correct
VOCATION CROSSWORD
VOCATION VOCABULARY
VOCATIONS INTRODUCTION
VOCATIONS WORDSEARCH
WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE RESOURCE

Religious orders within the Roman Catholic Church have sought and received publicly-funded support for their joint training events with the PDST. Where representatives of the Roman Catholic Church are sharing materials with the PDST in the context of obtaining taxpayer support for their training courses, there should be no expectation that these materials must be kept secret from other taxpayers.

Consequently, I would be grateful if you could instruct the DoE to release all files within Record 10 to me, and also to conduct a proper search for the PDST materials that were presented at the relevant joint events with the Roman Catholic Church. All of these materials should have been returned to me following my original FoI request in 2018. That I have spent more than five years listening to one false and incredible response from the DoE after another, speaks to the inefficacy of the FoI process. I believe that your Office would do well to resolve these issues, rather than support and perpetuate them.

Yours, etc.

FOI 2023-0043 Original Request

An Appeal To The Information Commissioner

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