Freedom of Information
Axcess1 Ireland
Freedom of Information management, built around FOI Act 2014 and GDPR / DPA 2018
Built around your law — not around generic case management.
Built around your law — not around generic case management
Many case-management products ask a public body to adapt its process to the software. Axcess1 is configured around the legislation, the procedures, the vocabulary and the reporting obligations of each jurisdiction. An organization chooses its Act once; every screen, deadline, letter and report then follows it.
Generic case management
The organization adapts to the software.
Axcess1
The software follows the legislation and the way government works.
Legislation supported
Freedom of Information Act 2014 (No. 30 of 2014) and General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018 (right of access, Art. 15) (Regulation (EU) 2016/679; No. 7 of 2018)
| What the Act requires | As configured in Axcess1 |
|---|---|
| Who it applies to | FOI bodies: public bodies within s. 6(1) (Departments of State; entities established by or under an enactment or by the Government or a Minister; companies majority-owned by a Minister and their subsidiaries; entities they control; publicly funded higher education institutions; public bodies under the 1997 Act) and bodies prescribed under s. 7, subject to s. 42 and Schedule 1. Includes local authorities, the Health Service Executive and An Garda Síochána (in part). |
| Time limit to respond | 20 working days (s. 13(1)). The due date is calculated when the request is entered, with the holidays of the jurisdiction. |
| Extensions | Up to 20 working days. Up to 4 weeks (20 working days) where the number of records, or of earlier undecided requests for the same records or information, makes compliance within 4 weeks not reasonably possible; notice with reasons before the original period ends (s. 14(2)). Reviewable by the Commissioner within 2 weeks (s. 22(1)(e), (4)(a)). Deposit: the period from the deposit notice to payment is added (s. 27(11)). Section 38 consultations: decision within 7 weeks at most. (s. 14) |
| No answer in time | Treated as a refusal (s. 19(1)); overdue requests are flagged. |
| Third-party notice | Notice under s. 38(2); 15 days for the third party to respond; 10 days to seek review of the decision |
| Transfer to another body | s. 12(3), within 10 days |
| Decision and reasons | The decision letter gives the reasons, the provision relied on and the right of review (s. 13(2)(d), (f)). |
| Fees | Amounts are in euro (EUR). No application fee. Search, retrieval and copying: €20 per hour; 4 cent per photocopied sheet, €10 per CD-ROM, €6 per x-ray; no charge below €101; maximum €500; above the €700 ceiling the body may refuse unless the request is narrowed (s. 27(12)). Deposit of at least 20% (s. 27(5)). Normally no charge for the requester's own personal information (s. 27(4)). Internal review €30 (€10 with a medical card); Commissioner review €50 (€15); free for personal information. |
| Review and complaints | Office of the Information Commissioner; 180 days to ask for a review (s. 22(4)(b): 6 months (entered as 180 days); s. 22(4)(a): 2 weeks for a s. 14 extension or a s. 38 decision; internal review first, within 4 weeks (s. 21(7))) |
| Privacy breaches | Notification is mandatory; the incident register applies this jurisdiction's threshold, notices and time limits. |
Loaded for this Act
- 104 provisions (exemptions, exceptions and exclusions) ready to cite on a redaction, each with its section number.
- Request types: FOI request (FOI Act 2014, s. 12); Own personal data — subject access request (GDPR Art. 15); Amendment of personal information in a record (FOI Act 2014, s. 9).
- Statutory steps on the timeline: Extension under s. 14 (up to 4 weeks = 20 working days; notice with reasons before the original period ends); Third-party notification under s. 38(2) (within 2 weeks of receipt; submissions within 3 weeks; decision within 2 weeks after that, s. 38(5) — up to 7 weeks in all, entered as 15 more working days); Extension of the time to notify third parties under s. 38(3) (up to 2 weeks = 10 working days; notice with reasons to the requester); Deposit notice under s. 27(5) (within 2 weeks of receipt; search does not begin until payment; the period from the notice to receipt of the deposit is added to the 4 weeks, s. 27(11)); Request transferred to another FOI body under s. 12(3) (within 2 weeks of receipt; requester informed); Access deferred under s. 16 (record to be laid before the Oireachtas or published; reasons and period stated in the decision notice); Internal review requested under s. 21 (application within 4 weeks of the decision; decision within 3 weeks; deemed affirmed if late, s. 19(2)); Review by the Information Commissioner under s. 22 (application within 6 months; within 2 weeks for a s. 14 extension; decision as far as practicable within 4 months)….
Checked against the published text on 2026-10-04. Law Reform Commission — Freedom of Information Act 2014 (No. 30 of 2014), Revised Act updated to 31 July 2026 (full text: ss. 2, 6, 8-27, Part 4 ss. 28-41, Part 5 s. 42, s. 47) · Irish Statute Book — Freedom of Information Act 2014, as enacted · Irish Statute Book — Freedom of Information Act 2014 (Fees) (No. 2) Regulations 2014, S.I. No. 531 of 2014
Legislation-to-feature matrix
| Legislative requirement | Axcess1 support |
|---|---|
| Statutory deadline | 20 working days (s. 13(1)): calculated automatically for each request; overdue and upcoming requests on the dashboard. |
| Extensions and holds | Recorded as events that move the due date, each tied to its section of the Act. |
| Exemptions and exclusions | The provisions of FOI Act 2014 and GDPR / DPA 2018 in the redaction editor, each with its section number. |
| Third parties and consultations | Notices, consultation packages and their due dates tracked on the request. |
| Fees | Fee notices and payments recorded on the request. |
| Reviews, appeals and complaints | Recorded on the request timeline with their dates and outcome. |
| Redaction | Done by the analyst in the built-in editor; optional AI suggestions that the analyst accepts or rejects. |
| Decision letters | Generated from templates for this Act, with the provisions cited. |
| Release | A release package built from the reviewed records; redactions are permanent in the released file. |
| Annual statistics | Annual access statistics for the period, with each figure traceable to its requests. |
| Audit trail | Every action on a request is recorded with the user and the time. |
From request to release
1Receive and validate
The request is entered with its type, requester and date received; a number is issued from your own numbering pattern.
2Calculate the deadline
The due date follows the Act: 20 working days (s. 13(1)). Holds and extensions move it and are recorded.
3Assign and search
The request is assigned to an officer; the units holding records are tasked and their answers tracked.
4Collect and review
Records are uploaded (PDF, Office files, scans with text recognition) and reviewed page by page.
5Apply the provisions and redact
The analyst marks a passage and picks the provision of this Act; the released copy shows the section relied on.
6Consult
Consultation packages are produced per party, with their due dates.
7Approve
The response goes to the approver's inbox for review and signature.
8Release
The release package and the decision letter are generated from the request.
9Report
Requests, processing times, decisions and provisions invoked are counted for the period you choose.
Agentic AI across the lifecycle
AI is switched off until your administrator turns it on, one capability at a time. AI assists. Authorized officials decide.
Intake agent
Proposes a new request from a message, the portal or a drop folder; an officer confirms it.
Document intelligence
Summarizes and classifies the records and finds the people and organizations named in them.
Responsiveness agent
Suggests which records answer the request.
Exemption assist
Proposes provisions of FOI Act 2014 with reasons; redaction candidates appear in the editor.
Consultation agent
Suggests who should be consulted and on which pages.
Quality assurance agent
Checks a package a second time before release.
Deadline watch
Lists the requests at risk of running late.
Copilot
Answers questions about a request, citing the records it used.
Migration
Case history, requesters and documents are brought over from the system you use today, so you do not start from an empty database.
Deployment
Hosted by SoftSim in Canada, on your own private cloud or servers, or standalone on a PC or Mac.
Security
Each organization's records are separate, access is controlled by role and every action is recorded. Run on your own servers, your records never leave your premises.
Try it free for 30 days
One licence, the full product, no obligation. Or see it first in a 30-minute demonstration.
Find Axcess1 for your jurisdiction
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Axcess1 supports configurable workflows designed around the applicable legislation. Government organizations remain responsible for legal interpretation and statutory decisions. Summaries of the legislation are paraphrases prepared from the published text; they are not legal advice.