Vol. 529 No. 1
966 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands 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. [1962/01]
Inquiries to the e-mail address, eolas@ealga.ie, are dealt with on a daily basis by the press and information office. Inquiries are either answered by the press and information office directly, or are forwarded to the relevant section within the Department for reply.
The record of e-mail queries dealt with during the last quarter of 2000 is 58. I understand only one enquiry was outstanding on 19 January 2001 from the last quarter of 2000, and a response has since issued.
The choice of e-mail as a method of communication with the Department and within the Department has allowed for a quicker response time to many inquiries. As set out in our quality customer service action plan, it is the policy of my Department to reply, if possible within 20 days of receipt of all correspondence where a response is required. Otherwise, an interim reply is to issue. This applies to all correspondence, written or electronic. Where appropriate, with regard to privacy and the nature of the response itself, electronic correspondence is replied to by e-mail.
