Information Commissioner's Office

Charity Commission for Northern Ireland

12 April 2017, Other

The complainant has requested information relating to the sale of land by the RC Parish of Maghera, in Newcastle, County Down, Northern Ireland.  The CCNI provided the complainant with some information, however it refused to disclose the remainder (“the withheld information,”) citing sections 40(2), 41 and 43(2) of the FOIA.  The Commissioner’s decision is that the CCNI has correctly applied section 40(2) of FOIA to the information withheld under that section and that it has correctly applied section 41 to some of the remaining withheld information, however some should be disclosed as section 41 is not applicable to it.  The Commissioner has not considered the CCNI’s application of section 43(2), the reason for which is explained later in the Decision Notice.The Commissioner requires the CCNI to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation -To disclose the information to which section 41 of FOIA does not apply, which is set out in a confidential annex to this Notice. The public authority must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.

FOI 41: Partly upheld FOI 40: Not upheld