Maeve McDonagh

The protection of personal information in public registers: the case of urban planning information in Ireland

This article commences by describing public registers. Examples of such registers in use in Ireland are set out. The advantages of allowing the public access to public registers are discussed, as are the negative consequences that can arise from the provision of access. In particular, privacy issues arising from the provision of access are explored. The extent to which the provision of electronic access to public registers may give rise to special concern is raised. The making available to the public of planning related information in Ireland is used as a case study in exploring these issues. Examples of personal information used in the Irish planning process are set out and the legislative provisions governing access are described. Statutory protection available for privacy of such information contained in both planning law and data protection law are evaluated and suggestions are made with respect to achieving an appropriate balance between access and privacy of personal information in public registers.

Freedom of information and the public interest: the Commonwealth experience

ABSTRACT This article commences with a discussion of the concept of public interest generally and more specifically within the context of the common law. It then considers the role of public interest tests in the Freedom of information (FOI) legislation of Commonwealth countries and presents a taxonomy of public interest tests in Commonwealth FOI legislation. It concludes by considering the merits of the ground-breaking developments in the approach to public interest tests in Australian FOI law and argues that there are valuable insights to be gained from the experience of this early FOI adopter.