Vol. 519 No. 4
58 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the guidelines in place for regulating the type of material placed on his departmental websites; the further guidelines to regulate the links included on the website; and if the guidelines in this regard include party political or commercial material. [14014/00]
The Department is following the guidelines of the interdepartmental group on public sector websites. These guidelines were drawn up to facilitate an enhanced level of customer service delivery.
Information on the site should relate to the Department's mission statement, namely "to promote and protect the interests of Ireland and its citizens abroad, and to pursue peace, partnership and reconciliation on the island of Ireland". The website, therefore, includes such items as the mission statement and the functions, staffing structure and overall policy direction of the Department. In this connection, the site contains a database of policy statements issued by the Minister and the Minister of State.
The website is focused on the needs of our customers and thus includes, for instance, information on passport and visa services as well as general travel advice. It contains the text of "Facts About Ireland", a departmental publication aimed primarily at the international community. This publication covers in objective terms all aspects of Irish life and includes a section on the political system in Ireland. This section contains information on political parties which has been provided by the parties themselves but does not set out to promote any individual party.
Likewise, although the Department's mission statement refers to the promotion of Ireland's interests abroad, it does not contain any purely commercial material. Rather it includes a link with promotional semi-State agencies such as Bord Fáilte and Enterprise Ireland via the Ask-Ireland website.
The links on the site are to other Government Departments and State agencies and, given the Department's brief of promoting awareness overseas of Ireland, the site also has links to some of the national media. The Department recognises the need to develop the website further in order to extend and improve wherever possible the delivery of services via e-government.
