You might remember in earlier days of the #Covid_19 pandemic, one of key forums for decision-making was the so-called "Senior Officials Group" ... they didn't want the public knowing what was going on at meetings, using cover of Cabinet confidentiality: https://twitter.com/kenfoxe/status/1285911357368479745?s=20

Through @RightToKnowIE, we appealed this and have won our case. The Information Commissioner has ruled that the agendas and minutes for the group were not covered by Cabinet confidentiality. The records will have to be released (with some redaction)

The relevant part of the FOI Act is Section 28. This is often used to refuse access to information where it does not apply. The critical word in this part of the legislation is "solely" - as in, the material needs to directly relate to a meeting of government:

You can see what the Information Commissioner thinks here. While the group does provide advice and reports to the government, that is not its "sole" purpose. The records in fact mostly relate to practical aspects of responding to the #Covid_19 pandemic:

The decision is for records to be released with some small redactions for material that does actually appear to be exempt under the exemption for meetings of government (Cabinet confidentiality). The Dept of the Taoiseach can still appeal, but should not: https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20407420-senior-officials-group-decision

We will post the documents online when we get them. This appeal was taken by @RightToKnowIE with the support of our members. If you would like to find out more about how you can help us continue this work, visit http://www.righttoknow.ie