The Department of Agriculture Food and Marine (DAFM) has been told to release the herd number and location of derogation farms connected to private limited companies in the "electoral district of Dripsey, Cork".

According to the Commissioner for Environmental Information, Ger Deering, who issued the direction, there is "a strong public interest in the release of information relating to the nitrates derogation generally".

The decision came about following an appeal to the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information in March 2023 from the non-profit company, Right To Know.

The non-profit had orginally made a request to DAFM in January 2023 under Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) Regulations seeking information on “herd number and location of derogation farms in the Electoral District of Dripsey, Cork in 2021".

According to DAFM, this request covered 21 farms - seven of which "appear to be connected to private limited companies".

The non-profit company believes that "it is only through the herd number that the public can cross reference the location of derogation farms with other information on emissions into the environment to get a full picture as to the effects of farm-level emissions on the environment.”

However DAFM in 2023 refused the Right To Know request, highlighting that a disclosure of this information would breach confidentiality regulations for public authorities.

Right To Know then requested an internal review by DAFM in February 2023. Following this review, the department stood by its original decision to refuse to release the information.

The non-profit company subsequently appealed to the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information in March 2023 to review the case.

Commissioner Deering examined whether DAFM was justified in refusing access to the 21 herd numbers and associated location data of derogation farms in the Dripsey Electoral District.

As part of Deering's review, he notified all third parties that related to the appeal and invited them to make submissions or submit observations.

In its submission to the office, DAFM stated that its "customers have both a legal right under GDPR and an expectation that the government department will treat details provided as confidential".

"DAFM does not release data on individual customers to third parties as to do so may constitute a data breach. In this instance, the 21 farmers have applied for a nitrates derogation," the department added.

A number of concerns were also raised with the commissioner, including that a herd number is tantamount to an individual’s Personal Public Service (PPS) number and releasing any information could make the farms a target for thieves.

One farmer wrote to the commissioner stating that he did not want his address and herd number to be released due to the fact that “animal rights activists have invaded farms and tried to take animals from the farms, this could lead to violent confrontation and injury being visited on my family and I”.

In his decision, Deering stated: "I have carefully considered these concerns, but am not persuaded of the likelihood of an adverse effect if the requested information is disclosed. I have considered the use and function of a herd number generally. 

"A herd number is an administrative device, issued by the Department of Agriculture primarily for the purposes of disease control, but used generally by the department as an identifier for matters relating to the herd. 

"Similarly, I do not consider it likely that these farmers’ risk of theft of their goods or machinery would increase as a result of their derogation licence status being disclosed".

However the commissioner noted that seven of the 21 herd numbers in question were linked to private limited companies and that these were "not natural persons"

"The addresses are clearly information related to an identifiable natural person," Deering added.

Deering believes that there "is an important general interest in the disclosure of environmental information to meet the purpose of the AIE Directive".

The Commissioner for Environmental Information said he had moved to "annul" DAFM's decision and ordered that the "requested information be released" in relation to the limited companies to the non-profit company, Right To Know.

According to Deering, "a party to the appeal or any other person affected by this decision may appeal to the High Court on a point of law from the decision".