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High Court dismisses appeal from a decision of the Information Commissioner, and affirms a determination that an agreement between the Minister for Communications and a private operator of metropolitan area networks of fibre optic cables should be released under freedom of information legislation, on the grounds that: (a) the Commissioner had correctly determined that the presumption was that the decision by the Minister to refuse release was not justified; and (b) the Minister had failed to establish that release of the agreement would disclose commercially sensitive information concerning the private operator.
Freedom of information - s. 24(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2014 - fibre optic cables - metropolitan area networks (MANs) - concession agreement whereby private operator maintained and operated MANs - application for copy of agreement by freedom of information request - whether request to be refused on the basis that it contained commercially sensitive information - refusal by Minister - appeal to Commissioner - whether onus on Minister to show that decision to refuse was justified - whether reasonable expectation of material loss to third party - whether third party's competitive position could be prejudiced - whether public interest better served by granting or refusing the request - whether Commissioner correctly applied presumption that decision to refuse was not justified - s. 35 (2) of 2014 Act - appeal from specialist body on a point of law - failure of Minister to raise point before the Commissioner.
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