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The FOI Files is a series from our team at The Journal Investigates. Each week, one of our investigative journalists brings you inside the fight for information that we’re all entitled to. They’ll share their documents, their stories – and tips on how to take the journey for yourself.

This week’s file is from investigative journalist Conor O’Carroll.

See here for The Journal Investigates’ most recent investigations.

WITH IRELAND’S EU presidency well underway, I thought I’d have a look at the type of lobbying that takes place in the run-up to the handover of power.

Ireland’s control of the presidency grants it a six-month stint chairing meetings and gently guiding EU legislative priorities towards its vision of what the future of the EU looks like.

And so it’s only natural that private companies will engage in lobbying with Irish officials to try to give their point of view on developments.

Two of Amazon’s meetings caught my eye when they met with the Ambassador to the US, Geraldine Byrne Nason, in Washington and the Permanent Representative of Ireland to the European Union, Aingeal O’Donoghue, in Brussels.

A third meeting took place when Amazon met with Maeve von Heynitz, Director General of the EU Division at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

At all three meetings, Amazon sought “to discuss Ireland’s priorities for the Presidency of the Council of the EU.”

But we didn’t learn much from the FOI that came back, with nine of the 12 records found completely refused.

These included a briefing note prepared by IDA Ireland, an embassy summary briefing and a report on the meeting with the ambassador.

The decision maker relied on a handful of exemptions to the FOI Act to refuse access to these documents, including Section 33 relating to security, defence and international relations.

We’ve seen this exemption applied before, like when the Department of Foreign Affairs refused to provide details on “alleged parking violations” involving Irish diplomats abroad.

As it was in that case, the decision maker asserted that the Department’s “strongly held position is that the granting of access to this information would adversely affect the State’s relations”.

There is no public interest test contained within this section of the Act, meaning that the only way an appeal would be successful is if the Department had applied the exemption incorrectly, something that is close to impossible to know without having access to the records.

The decision maker also relied on Section 35 relating to information obtained in confidence and Section 36 relating to commercially sensitive information.

In both cases, this would likely be information relating to Amazon and its operations in Ireland that isn’t publicly available or known. It may also include information that Amazon shared during the meetings.

For the most part, both sections include a public interest test, unlike Section 33. This means that records cannot be refused “where, on balance, the public interest would be better served by granting the request than by refusing it.”

But the decision maker found that there was no public interest in releasing these documents, writing:

It is my opinion that the need for companies to be able to communicate with the Department in confidence outweighs any potential benefit to the public.

Even though this was a disappointing result and I didn’t get what I was looking for, there is always something of interest within every request for information if you look hard enough.

And here was no different.

A thank-you note from Amazon’s Chief Global Affairs & Legal Officer to the ambassador thanking her for her hospitality was one of the few records that were released.

While it doesn’t provide much detail as to what exactly was discussed, it does suggest the ambassador provided “insights” regarding Ireland’s EU Presidency, with Amazon “strongly” supporting the government’s “focus on single market reform and regulatory simplification”.

The meeting also took place at the new Irish embassy building located at 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue, right beside the White House, a month after it was officially opened.

The new building proved to be a hit with Amazon’s representative, who described it as “magnificent” and “a spectacular representation of Ireland’s close ties with the US”.

If you have a burning FOI question about how to get certain records or why your request was refused, you can get in touch with our team at investigates@thejournal.ie. The Journal Investigates team will be back with another instalment of The FOI Files next Tuesday.

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