The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by F.P. against the refusal to release records relating to sexual abuse allegations made against him in 1997 and 1998. The court held that the Information Commissioner had lawfully weighed the public interest in disclosure against the privacy rights of the child and her mother.
The case concerned a request under the Freedom of Information Acts for records held by the Eastern Health Board and Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin. F.P. sought records about himself, the child identified as S, and information relating to both. Some records concerning him were released, but records containing the child’s personal information, alone or jointly with his, were withheld.
The Board informed F.P. in October 1999 that the allegations were “unconfirmed”. He argued that access to the remaining records would support openness, procedural fairness, correction of information and the deterrence of false allegations. He also offered to protect the privacy of the child and her mother if the records were released to him.
The Information Commissioner refused the request in January 2014, concluding that the public interest in granting access did not outweigh the privacy interests involved. The High Court dismissed F.P.’s appeal on a point of law in December 2016. The Court of Appeal considered whether that decision, and the Commissioner’s application of the statutory test, contained an error of law.
Delivering judgment on 30 January 2019, Mr Justice Michael Peart said the Commissioner had considered the individual circumstances and had not applied a fixed policy against releasing records in cases involving child sexual abuse allegations. The court also found no error in the treatment of F.P.’s proposed undertaking: potential release to the world at large was a factor in the balance, alongside any offer to protect privacy.
The court distinguished the general public interest in openness and accountability from F.P.’s personal reasons for seeking the records. It held that his private interest in learning more about the allegations or pursuing remedies did not become a public interest merely because disclosure could also be consistent with transparency. The court noted that the Commissioner was entitled to conclude that the privacy interests outweighed the public interest in granting this request.
The appeal was dismissed. The court’s decision was limited to the appeal on a point of law; it did not decide the truth of the allegations or review the underlying investigation’s outcome.