DCC withholds SEEDS docs

DERRY City Council has refused to give the Sentinel any documents it holds concerning the SEEDS charity on the grounds that the documents are being held for the purposes of an investigation that could lead to a person being charged or found guilty of an offence or which could lead to criminal proceedings.

The Sentinel asked the Council for records of any meetings or correspondence between Derry City Council and SEEDS between March 2011 and March 2012.

But the Council has withheld the information in full applying exemptions under Sections 30 (1) (a) and (b) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) and saying the public interest in maintaining the exemptions outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Section 30 of the act states that: “information held by a public authority is exempt information if it has at any time been held by the authority for the purposes of: (a)any investigation which the public authority has a duty to conduct with a view to it being ascertained: (i)whether a person should be charged with an offence, or (ii)whether a person charged with an offence is guilty of it: (b)any investigation which is conducted by the authority and in the circumstances may lead to a decision by the authority to institute criminal proceedings which the authority has power to conduct.”