Category: FOIs

[cross posted from thestory.ie] No, we don’t have the expenses, yet anyway. But we have started the process. In August I sent the following FOI request to the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (the crowd who manage the Dail and Seanad): August 17, 2009 Request for access to records under the Freedom of Information Acts…

John O’Donoghue goes to Stuttgart. Stutt0001 Stutt0002 Stutt0003 Stutt0004 Stutt0005 Stutt0006 Stutt0007 Stutt0008 Stutt0009 Stutt0010 Stutt0011 Stutt0012 Stutt0013 Stutt0014 Stutt0015 Stutt0016 Stutt0017 Stutt0018 Stutt0019 Stutt0020 Stutt0021 Stutt0022 Stutt0023 Stutt0024 Stutt0025 Previously: JOD Part 1 (India) JOD Part 2 (Birmingham) JOD Part 3 (Berlin) JOD Part 4 (London) JOD Part 5 (London) JOD Part 6 (Venice)…

Here’s a question for everyone: Add these numbers and what do you get? €39.409m €17.548m €22.742m €20.359m €5.777m €8.303m Answer? €114.138m. But according to the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission document, it’s not. Here is a screen grab from the document, for 2007 spending: €113.868 million? That leaves one question. Where is the other €270,000?…

So during the buildup to Brian Cowen appearing on the Late Late Show, the Department of Finance went and published a huge amount of information onto their website, the Special Group Background Documents, submitted by departments etc to Bord Snip, to outline how they proposed cutting back. It is worth noting that many or all…

The minister heads to Turin with his wife, his private secretary, secretary general Philip Furlong and assistant secretary general Con Haugh. They use the Ministerial Air Transport Service (MATS) to do it. Tur01 Tur02 Tur03 Tur04 Tur05 Tur06 Tur07 Tur08 Tur09 Tur10 (MATS receipt) Tur11 Previously: JOD Part 1 (India) JOD Part 2 (Birmingham) JOD…

About 8 weeks ago I went looking for a particular transcript of Morris Tribunal evidence, and to my horror discovered that the entire website had been removed. The transcripts are held digitally in an obscure format, for which you need special software (another story in itself), and they were nowhere to be found on the…

The minister goes to the Big Apple with his wife, private secretary, the secretary general of the department, a Mrs Furlong and Paul O’Toole. Ny01 Ny02 Ny03 Ny04 Ny05 Ny06 Ny07 Ny08 Ny09 Ny10 Ny11 Ny12 Ny13 Ny14 Ny15 Previously: JOD Part 1 (India) JOD Part 2 (Birmingham) JOD Part 3 (Berlin) JOD Part 4…

The Minister, his wife and his private secretary fly to Manchester, then on to Cheltenham Races via Stratford on Avon. This is after they attend the Ireland vs Scotland rugby match at Landsdowne Road. They spend St Patrick’s Day at the races. Money is also paid for their driver to overnight. Man01 Man02 Man03 Man04…

Then Tourism Minister John O’Donoghue, his private secretary Therese O’Connor and his wife Kate Ann, jet off to Venice. Highlights: Government Learjet from Baldonnel to Venice, and back to Farranfore. The infamous watertaxi receipts… Ven01 Ven02 Ven03 Ven04 Ven05 Ven06 Ven07 Ven08 Ven09 Previously: JOD Part 1 (India) JOD Part 2 (Birmingham) JOD Part 3…

It might be useful to make a stab at a chronology of events. It would certainly help to understand the news cycles at work. Sunday July 26, 2009. Ken Foxe in the Tribune publishes details of expenses he had obtained via Freedom of Information requests. Sunday August 2, 2009. Ken Foxe publishes more details of…