Galway County Council

I would like to make a request of the local authority under the Freedom of Information Act 2014. My request relates to successful prosecutions taken by the Authority under the Waste Management Act 1996. Specifically I am looking for the details of all prosecutions taken by the Authority, which resulted in a conviction, fine or penalty, where the case was taken under the following sections of the Act: • Section 18 of the Waste Management Act 1996; • Section 55 of the Waste Management Act 1996; • Section 32 of the Waste Management Act 1996; • Section 34 of the Waste Management Act 1996; • Section 39 of the Waste Management Act 1996; • Section 57/58 of the Waste Management Act 1996. To stay consistent with the information published by the EPA in relation to its enforcement actions I would like to request the following details with respect to each of these cases: • Respondent Name; • Permit / licence number if applicable; • Respondent Address; • Section of Waste management Act 1996 that the prosecution was taken under; • Case Summary; and • The Details of the sentence/ fine/ Costs The information I am seeking is a record of the cases taken and not documents involved in the case itself, it would not form part of the case taken and as such would not be available from the Courts. I understand the information to be available in tabular (spreadsheet) form and has been submitted to the EPA as part of the RMCEI returns process. The information I seek is consistent with the publication of similar information by other prosecuting bodies. For instance, the EPA publishes details of successful prosecutions. The Office of Director of Corporate Enforcment publishes, in its annual report, a table of directors who have been disqualified following court orders. The Revenue Commissioners publishes the list of the tax defaulters, who made settlements in lieu of a court conviction. I do not seek information on parties acquitted or cases where the prosecution did not proceed. Information of this nature is supposed to be public under Article 34 of the Constitution, that justice be administered in public. As such it cannot be considered to be confidential or would ever have the character necessary to be treated as confidential. Under Section 17 of the Act I would ask that the information be released electronically in a .xls or similar file format. If amending the wording of the request is likely to reduce unnecessary workload I am happy to consider an alternative phrasing.