Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 30 Jan 2001

Vol. 529 No. 1

Written Answers. - Departmental E-mail System.

Seán Haughey

Question:

529 Mr. Haughey asked the Minister for Health and Children 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 time scale for such responses; if e-mail inquiries addressed to officials in his Department are also processed within that time scale; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1055/01]

Richard Bruton

Question:

684 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children 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. [1959/01]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 529 and 684 together.

If a member of the public wishes to send a general query to my Department he or she should first visit its website, www.doh.ie, where contact forms are posted to assist the public with their request. The contacts offered include

Customer Services for general queries	customer–[e-mail].
Freedom of Information	[e-mail]
Webmaster	[e-mail]

In addition to these services specific queries related to the General Register Office, Adoption Board or social service inspectorate may be made through dedicated websites which can also be accessed at my Department's general website. The specific sites for contact are:

[e-mail]

[e-mail]

[e-mail]

The general site also offers a direct link to health boards', hospitals' and appropriate agencies' websites, where they exist. From time to time my Department establishes temporary mailboxes to support a consultation process with the public.

My Department's customer service action plan sets out the standards of service applying to all correspondence, including e-mail queries. The Department undertakes to provide a reply to issues raised within 20 working days. If it is not possible to meet this time scale because the complexity of the issue raised requires in-depth and detailed consideration, an appropriate interim reply will be provided. Staff make every effort to provide a quality service in accordance with this plan. Each officer in the Department has access to e-mail facilities. This enables each to deal with e-mail queries from the public and where appropriate to e-mail a reply directly.

In the last quarter of 2000, the number of e-mails received amounted to almost 1,400. Our records indicate that more than 95% of these have had their queries answered or have been informed that their query is receiving attention. The remainder are being processed. I consider the arrangements in place to be satisfactory. They are kept under review and improvements introduced when such opportunities are identified.