Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 30 Jan 2001

Vol. 529 No. 1

Written Answers. - Departmental E-mail System.

Seán Haughey

Question:

288 Mr. Haughey asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the e-mail address to which members of the public should send queries relating to her Department; if her Department routinely replies to e-mails sent by the public; the time-scale for such responses; if e-mail inquiries addressed to officials in his Department are also processed within that time-scale; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1051/01]

Richard Bruton

Question:

306 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the arrangements she 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 she will make a statement on the adequacy of the system for responding to such e-mail queries. [1955/01]

Minister for Public Enterprise (Mrs. O'Rourke)

I propose to answer Questions Nos. 288 and 306 together.

The general e-mail address to which members of the public should send queries relating to my Department is [e-mail]. Specific e-mail addresses are given on our website and comment card as well as on the business cards of my officials.

In relation to replies to e-mail and the time-scale for such responses, my Department has a policy which, while originally drafted for written correspondence, is applicable to electronic correspondence. This policy is that all correspondence be acknowledged within two days of receipt and replied to within 20 working days. The policy is outlined in my Department's customer service action plan which may be viewed on the Department's website at www.dpe.ie.

Due to the fact that all staff within my Department have personal e-mail addresses, many of which are widely advertised, it is very difficult to accurately estimate the number of e-mail queries received over any time period. The only precise figures I have relate to the general e-mail address – [e-mail]. Since 1 October 2000, over 250 queries were sent to this address. The majority of these are replied to directly from my office well within 20 days.