08/06/2023
Information Commissioner annuls TCD refusal to disclose records relating to suffering and deaths in animal testing
On 31st May 2023, the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) annulled the decision by TCD to conceal information relating to critical animal welfare standards during vivisection at the College, where tens of thousands of animals perish every year. The Freedom of Information (FoI) requests had been made by the Students4Change group, with support and expert advice from the Irish Anti-Vivisection Society (IAVS). The defeat for TCD follows a series of false and misleading responses from the College as it sought to evade its FoI duties and hide the truth about its animal testing practices.
The IAVS have been shocked and deeply disappointed by the litany of blatant falsehoods put forward by Trinity College in response to these information requests about the suffering and death they inflict on tens of thousands of animals every year. You would expect a prestigious institution of learning and science to have a reasonable commitment to the truth and to their legal obligations. Yet their approach to this FoI request has been cavalier, to say the least, unnecessarily undermining their own credibility and reputation. In the end, TCD has been trapped in their own web of deception, where one lie has then led to another lie to cover up the original lack of candour.
TCD needs to understand that when it comes to animal experimentation they are not a law- unto-themselves: they are only allowed to do specific experiments because the government, acting on behalf of Irish citizens, gives them limited permissions to do so. It is therefore incumbent on them to be honest with the public about how they conduct those experiments and whether they do so lawfully.
The IAVS urges TCD to respond to the OIC judgement with a constructive spirit of openness and respect for their FoI obligations. It is also vital that TCD conducts an urgent internal investigation of its handling of the original request. It cannot be right for TCD to allow falsehoods to be issued in its name and to treat FoI with contempt.
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