Decision making process for major policy proposals


Once you submit an FOI request, we will issue a letter of acknowledgement to you within 10 working days (excluding public holidays) of your request being received. The next stages of the process will be clearly explained in this letter.

A decision will normally be issued within 20 working days of the receipt of your request.  If an extension is necessary to facilitate the completion of the request, we will contact you and explain the requirement.

Please contact our FOI Unit if you require any assistance in making a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2014 via post at:

RTÉ Freedom of Information Office, RTÉ, Donnybrook, Dublin 4 or by e-mail foi@rte.ie

If you do not receive a response from the FOI unit within twenty working days you may seek an internal appeal by contacting the RTE Company Secretary via foi@rte.ie or by post at RTE Administration Building, RTE, Donnybrook, Dublin 4. There is no fee in these circumstances.

If you are unhappy with the initial decision regarding your request, you can also appeal to the Company Secretary within one month. This appeal which is completely independent requires a payment of €30 which can be paid by post (ie cheque or postal order) or electronically. There is a reduced fee of €10 for those with Medical Cards.

If you remain dissatisfied you can appeal to the Office of the Information Commissioner via post at 18 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2, via phone on +353 (1) 639 5689 or info@oic.ie. That appeal costs €50 (€15 for medical card holders). You can find further information here (https://www.oic.ie)

There is no charge when submitting a request. However, in certain circumstances, charges may be applicable. If this arises you will be advised in advance to see if costs can be avoided or reduced. As specified, public bodies may charge €20 per hour to search and retrieve records while photocopying costs 4 cents per page.  If a request costs €100 or less to process based on these charges, RTE will provide the records free. If it costs between €101 and €499 then full fees apply, if it costs between €500 and €700 RTE can charge a maximum of €500. If the estimated cost is over €700 RTE may refuse the request.