Vol. 515 No. 6
147 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Finance the degree to which Government publications are available on the Internet; the proposals, if any, he has to extend the service in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7058/00]
The information society action plan, January 1999, paragraph 40, sets out the policy in this area, "New material will be made available electronically via websites at the same time as it is provided by more traditional means".
All Departments maintain active websites which are updated on a regular basis. All departmental websites give prominence to the publications available on-line. In line with Government policy an increasing volume of information is being published on-line which includes publications, information leaflets etc. that are available to the public as well as press releases and other information that would not be available to the public in traditional form.
Implementation of the policy outlined in the action plan was strengthened with the publication in November 1999 of web publication guidelines. The guidelines recommended that "All departmental and public sector publications which are publicly available shall be published on the organisation's website, either before, or at the same time as being published by traditional means". In line with this objective, official publications are increasingly being published on-line. Ensuring that on-line publication increasingly becomes the norm is also an objective of the webmaster network in promoting the implementation of those guidelines. The following are the relevant addresses:
www.irlgov.ie/taoiseach/publication/infosocactionplan/ infosoc.htm;
www.irlgov.ie/taoiseach/publication/webpg/guidelines. htm.
