Mr. Gavin Sheridan 21 The Courtyard Castle Redmond Midleton Co. Cork Ref: FOI 160/2009 Dear Mr. Sheridan, I refer to the request which you made under the Freedom of Information Acts 1997 and 2003 for the following records held by this Department: 1. The diary of the Minister for Finance, 2. Briefing notes prepared for the Minister for Finance for an appearance before the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service, and 3. Briefing notes prepared for the Secretary General of the Department of Finance for his appearance before the PAC. I have made a final decision to part grant your request. If you have any queries regarding this correspondence you can contact me by telephone at 01 676 7571. In summary, ▪ Item one. The diary appointments of the Minister for Finance for the relevant period are released. ▪ Item two. S. 46 (d) of the 1997 Act, as amended, excludes; (r)ecord(s) given by a public body to a member of the Government or a Minister of State for use by him or her for the purposes of any proceedings in either House of the Oireachtas or any committee of either or both of such Houses or any subcommittee of such a committee (including such proceedings in relation to questions put by members of either such House to members of the Government or Ministers of State (whether answered orally or in writing)). Accordingly, this part of the request is refused in its entirety. ▪ Item three. Is largely granted but a number of records or parts of records have been refused. Furthermore, records relating to the President do not fall within the scope of the Act and accordingly, that part of the briefing material concerned with Vote 1 (President’s Establishment) has been excluded (S. 46 (d)). A schedule is attached at the end of this letter. It shows the documents that this Department considers relevant to your request and within the scope of the Acts. It also gives you a summary and overview of the decision as a whole. The schedule describes each document, and indicates whether the document is released in full, released with deletions or not released. The schedule refers to .the sections of the FOI Act which apply to prevent release. You may appeal this decision. Please note that a fee applies for an appeal, with the exception of an appeal against the imposition of a fee. The level of this has been set at €75. In the event that you need to make such an appeal, you can do so by writing to the Freedom of Information Unit of the Department of Finance enclosing the appropriate fee or in the case where no fee is required you can send your appeal by e-mail to paul.fleming@finance.gov.ie. Payment should be made by way of bank draft, money order, postal order or personal cheque made payable to the Department of Finance. You should make your appeal within 4 weeks (20 working days) from the date of this notification. However, the making of a late appeal may be permitted in appropriate circumstances. The appeal will involve a complete reconsideration of the matter by a more senior member of the staff of this Department. Yours sincerely, __________________ John Leonard, Principal Ref/Description PAC Brief Finance Account Decision - Grant/ Part Date of Grant/ Record Refuse 30/04/Part 2009Grant PAC Brief Vote 6 (Office of 30/04/Part the Minister for Finance) 2009Grant PAC Brief Vote 7 (Superannuation and Retired Allowances) Part Grant Basis of Refusal Various including S 28 Commercial Sensitivity and Personal Information Various including S 28 Commercial Sensitivity and Personal Information S. 28 Commercial Sensitivity various identify deletions where record Reason for Public Interest is part Decision Considerations refused Commercial Sensitivity No over-riding Deletions and public interest in identified in Personal releasing the the Information material documentation Commercia Sensitivity No over-riding Deletions and public interest in identified in Personal releasing the the Information material documentation No over-riding Deletions public interest in identified in releasing the the material documentation PAC Brief Vote 12 (Secret Service) 8002 Table of Contents.doc 8006 Membership of the Committee.doc 8007 C&AG's annual Report 2.1 and 3.1.pdf 8010 An Bord Snip.doc 8020 CAG report Postal Charges TW.doc 8030 Consultancies of the Department of Finance 2007.doc SS 23 and 24 Security 30/04/ S 24 (1) (a) and State 2009Refused State Security Security 30/04/Full 2009Grant N/A N/A 30/04/Full 2009Grant N/A N/A 30/04/Full 2009Grant N/A N/A 30/04/Full 2009Grant N/A N/A 30/04/Part 2009Grant 30/04/Full 2009Grant 30/04/Full 8040 Estimates reform.doc 2009Grant 8050 Decentralisation 30/04/Full Brief.doc 2009Grant 30/04/Part 8060 Internal Audit.doc 2009Grant 8070 List of Internal Audit 30/04/Full Reports 2007 2008.doc 2009Grant 30/04/Full 8080 Fiduciary Taxes.doc 2009Grant 8090 Payments to the EU 30/04/Full Budget.doc 2009Grant 8100 Risk 30/04/Full Management.doc 2009Grant 8110 Skills within the 30/04/Full Department of Finance.doc 2009Grant 8120 Taxation of International Performing Artistes and 30/04/Full Sportspersons.doc 2009Grant 8121 appendices 30/04/Full artistes.pdf 2009Grant No over-riding public interest in releasing the material N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A S 28 Legal Advice N/A No public interest in releasing the material N/A Deletions identified in the documentation N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Public interest Section 21 in ensuring the (1) (a) effectiveness of Section 21 (1) Material the audit (a) - Material relevant to process is relevant to ongoing greater than Deletions ongoing work work in the public interest in identified in in the Internal Internal accessing the the Audit Unit Audit Unit information documentation N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 8130 Capacity Review Executive Summary .doc 8140 Pensions Accrued Liabilities.doc 8150 C&AG Review of Tribunals.pdf 8160 Self administered pension schemes SSAS.doc 8160 Self administered pension schemes SSAS.pdf 8170 Review of Shared Services .doc 8185 Fiscal Aggregate Tables.doc 8200 National Pensions Policy Recent Developments.doc 8210 Minister's Minutes.doc 8230 Contingency Fund.doc 30/04/Full 2009Grant 30/04/Full 2009Grant 30/04/Full 2009Grant 30/04/Full 2009Grant 30/04/Full 2009Grant 30/04/Full 2009Grant 30/04/Full 2009Grant 30/04/Part 2009Grant 30/04/Full 2009Grant 30/04/Full 2009Grant 30/04/Full FOI Info to be released.xls 2009Grant 30/04/Full ISER PAC brief 09.doc 2009Grant Minister's pensions PAC 30/04/Full brief 09.doc 2009Grant PQ 2667.09 - No. of 30/04/Full economists since 1997.doc 2009Grant PQ 8212 09 - Letter to Roisin Shortall with info not 30/04/Full given.doc 2009Grant 30/04/Full Qualifications of staff.doc 2009Grant Tax and Tax Forecasting 30/04/Full Issues.doc 2009Grant N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A S 28 N/A No public interest in Commercialreleasing the Sensitivity material N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Various