FOI 27-24: Information on Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland
Information Standards Freedom of Information Response
Our Ref: FOI 27-24
21 June 2024
Freedom of Information Act 2000
The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) has processed your request dated 3 June 2024 under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). In your request, you asked:
“1. Please provide the full names and length of service, i.e. date they were appointed and the dated they resigned, for each individual holding the statutory office ‘DEPUTY-DIRECTOR-OF-PUBLIC-PROSECUTIONS-FOR-NORTHERN-IRELAND’ beginning with Bernard McCloskey a solicitor appointed in April 1972 and clarify if each individual ‘DEPUTY-DIRECTOR-OF-PUBLIC-PROSECUTIONS-FOR-NORTHERN-IRELAND’ was/is a barrister-at-law or a solicitor for the years 1972 to 2024:
2. Please confirm or deny that information or records are held regarding Bernard McCloskey a solicitor and appointed as ‘DEPUTY-DIRECTOR-OF-PUBLIC-PROSECUTIONS-FOR-NORTHERN-IRELAND’ in 1972 is a family relation, i.e. such as father and son, of the senior member of the judiciary in Northern Ireland, Lord Justice Bernard McCloskey KC, a member of the PRIVY-COUNCIL:
3. Please provide the full names and length of service, i.e. date they were appointed and the dated they resigned, for each individual holding the statutory office ‘DIRECTOR-OF-PUBLIC-PROSECUTIONS-FOR-NORTHERN-IRELAND’ beginning with Charles Barry Shaw QC a barrister-at-law appointed 10 April 1972 and clarify if each individual ‘DIRECTOR-OF-PUBLIC-PROSECUTIONS-FOR-NORTHERN-IRELAND’ was/is a barrister-at-law or a solicitor for the years 1972 to 2024”
Our response
The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) has considered your request.
Under section 1(1) of the FOIA, a person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled to be informed in writing by that authority whether it holds information of the description specified in the request. ‘Information’ is defined at section 1(4) as ‘information… held at the time when the request is received’.
The Assembly Commission does not hold information about whether ‘there is a public office of “The Deputy Director of the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland” that exists and was expressly and specifically created by statutory legislation’.
If you require advice on the interpretation of the Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 2002, a solicitor may be able to assist you.
Further information
If you wish to request such a review, please write to me at the above address. If, after that review, you are dissatisfied with the way in which the Assembly Commission has handled your request for information, you may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Your request for information and our response may be published in the disclosure log maintained by the Assembly Commission under a publication scheme agreed with the ICO. The request and our response will be anonymised.
Yours sincerely
INFORMATION STANDARDS
