X and Department of Foreign Affairs (Department of Foreign Affairs)

In conducting my review, I have had regard to the correspondence between the applicant and the Department as outlined above and to the correspondence between this Office and both parties, as well as the content of the records that were provided to this Office by the Department for the purposes of this review.

The scope of this review is confined to whether the records are exempt under sections 15(1)(d), 29, 33(1)(d), 33(2)(b)(i), 33(2)(b)(ii), and 35(1)(a) of the FOI Act. I have adopted the numbering used in the Department-�s schedule to identify the records.

Finally, with certain limited exceptions (e.g. section 37(2), which I consider below), the FOI Act does not provide for the limiting of access to records to particular individuals only. When a record is released under the FOI Act, it effectively amounts to disclosure to "the world at large" (H.(E.) v Information Commissioner [2001] IEHC 58 ). The FOI Act places no restrictions on the type or extent of disclosure or the subsequent use to which the record may be put.

Record 2(12) contains information relating to identifiable individuals other than the applicant. It relates to matters such as those individuals-� legal status, political activity and family members. Having examined this record, I am satisfied that access to it would involve the disclosure of personal information about third parties. I find that section 37(1) applies to this information. This finding is subject to other provisions of section 37, which I examine below.

Section 37(5) of the FOI Act provides that access to the personal information of a third party may be granted where (a) the public interest that the request should be granted outweighs the right to privacy of the individual to whom the information relates, or (b) the grant of the request would benefit the person to whom the information relates. It has not been argued that releasing the records would benefit the individuals to whom the information relates and I find that section 37(5)(b) does not apply in the circumstances. I will therefore consider section 37(5)(a).