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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 30 Jan 2001

Vol. 529 No. 1

Written Answers. - Departmental E-mail System.

Seán Haughey

Question:

232 Mr. Haughey asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the e-mail address to which members of the public should send queries relating to his Department; if his Department routinely replies to e-mails sent by the public; the timescale for such responses; if e-mail inquiries addressed to officials in his Department are also processed within that timescale and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1050/01]

Richard Bruton

Question:

239 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the arrangements he has in place to respond to e-mail queries to the address posted on the Department's website; the number of e-mail queries received during the last quarter of 2000; the number of these which had not received any response from the Department by 19 January 2001; and if he will make a statement on the adequacy of the system for responding to such e-mail queries. [1954/01]

I propose to answer Questions Nos. 232 and 239 together.

The main e-mail address for the Department of Foreign Affairs is webmaster@iveagh.irlgov.ie or alternatively library1@iveagh.irlgov.ie. In addition the following e-mail addresses are displayed on the Department's website for more specific queries:

Minister for Foreign Affairs –

Minister@iveagh.irlgov.ie;

Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs with responsibility for overseas development assistance and human rights – ministerofstate@iveagh.irlgov.ie;

Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs – secretarygeneral@iveagh.irlgov.ie;

Second Secretary, Anglo Irish division, Department of Foreign Affairs –
secondsecretary@iveagh.irlgov.ie;
information about Ireland Aid –
irelandaid@iveagh.irlgov.ie;
information about consular assistance – consular@iveagh.irlgov.ie;
information about Irish citizenship –
citizenship@iveagh.irlgov.ie;
information about passport applications – passport@iveagh.irlgov.ie;
information about visa applications –
visas@iveagh.irlgov.ie;
information about marriage overseas – marriageoverseas@iveagh.irlgov.ie;
information about foreign birth registration – foreignbirth@iveagh.irlgov.ie;
press and information queries –
Press@iveagh.irlgov.ie;
queries about Northern Ireland policy – angloirish@iveagh.irlgov.ie;
queries about foreign policy –
political@iveagh.irlgov.ie;
queries about human rights policy –
humanrights@iveagh.irlgov.ie;
queries about European Union policy –
europeanunion@iveagh.irlgov.ie;
queries about bilateral trade policy and assistance – trade@iveagh.irlgov.ie;
queries about Ireland and international law – legal@iveagh.irlgov.ie;
queries about protocol –
protocol@iveagh.irlgov.ie;
queries about foreign cultural policy –
culture@iveagh.irlgov.ie.
It is the practice of the Department of Foreign Affairs to ensure that all e-mails to the Department are replied to as quickly as possible and in accordance with the quality customer service standards for the Department. It is the policy of the Department to issue replies to written communications within ten working days of receipt. In cases where a substantive reply cannot be given within that time, an interim reply issues explaining the reasons.
A survey of all the e-mail addressees indicates that in the order of 605 e-mail queries were received by the Department in the last quarter of 2000. Replies to 59 of these were outstanding on 19 January 2001.
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