The First and Deputy First Ministers said that they were reviewing the current “30 year rule”, whereby most official documents are made public 30 years (20 in Northern Ireland) after they are created, with a view to releasing documents sooner.

The revelation comes in the third Northern Ireland annual report on Freedom of Information (FoI), which shows that members of the public are increasingly making use of the legislation to access official information.

There were 3,164 requests to Government departments in Northern Ireland last year – almost a third of these were to the Department of the Environment.

The overwhelming number of FoI requests – 62 per cent – came from ordinary members of the public.

Businesses accounted for 13 per cent of requests while just 11 per cent of requests came from journalists.

The report also said that the advent of FoI had led to better record keeping by Government, with many departments introducing electronic databases – which are more easily searchable – of their documents.

Overall, when requests are answered, Northern Ireland departments are more open than Whitehall departments, with 76 per cent are granted in full, with just six per cent being completely refused.