asked the Minister for Social Welfare the level of progress to date on computerisation within her Department; and her plans, if any, to speed up the process.
Written Answers. - Computerisation Programme.
372.
Considerable progress has been made on the Department's programme of computerisation in recent years. This progress has resulted in the introduction of improvements into the efficiency of the Department's services and has enabled it to cope with a massive increase in its workload.
With the exception of the unemployment payments schemes, practically all the Department's main schemes and services are now computerised. The number of Visual Display Units (VDUs) connected to the Department's main computer systems has grown from less than 50 in 1980 to about 800 at present and this represents about one VDU for each four of the Department's staff. It is expected that a substantial number of additional VDUs will be installed in 1987.
A computerised information system which provides information regarding benefit and pension claims for staff working in the public offices of the Department throughout the country has been developed and is being expanded. Visual Display Units linked to the central computers have been installed in the major public offices in Dublin and in a number of information offices outside Dublin.
A major programme of further computerisation is envisaged of which the major development will be the extension of computerised facilities to the Department's services outside of Dublin. This will require careful planning and a large investment of resources and for these reasons will take a number of years to complete.