Vol. 529 No. 1
331 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Defence 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. [1956/01]
My Department's website – www.irlgov.ie/defence – provides an e-mail address for all queries to the Department. The address is webmaster@defence.irlgov.ie. Replies to e-mails are subject to the same guidelines as written correspondence. These guidelines are set out in the Department's customer service action plan.
A separate e-mail address is provided for freedom of information requests. The address is foi@defence.irlgov.ie and all requests are processed in accordance with the provisions of the Act. The Department has received 65 e-mail queries during the last quarter of 2000 all of which were responded to by 19 January 2001. Initial replies are usually issued within three days and this is considered a satisfactory response time.
