Bernard Allen
Question:31 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will consider including links to international and EU bodies on the website of his Department. [26487/02]
Other Questions. - Departmental Website.
The website of the Department of Foreign Affairs already contains links to international and EU bodies. Some of the links are available on the homepage itself. The link to the debate on the future of Europe, for example, links to the portal of the European Union, as well as to the portal for the Convention on the Future of Europe. In addition, selecting a thematic issue on the homepage, such as human rights, provides links to the UN High Commission for Human Rights and the International Court of Justice. For convenience, the links which are spread throughout the website are now also available together on the main links page. This page includes links to the UN and EU bodies, as well as links to other Departments and to foreign ministries of EU member states.
It is intended that the website will be assessed and reviewed early in the new year with a view to making it more effective and to take account of advances in technology since the site was initially designed. One of the options to be examined is a more advanced search engine, as well as updating software to meet the latest guidelines on access for persons with a disability.
At present, plans are also under way for the development of an Ireland Aid website in early 2003, in line with the recommendations of the Ireland Aid review, and for a Presidency website which will be online before 2004. Any future sites to be launched by the Department will contain links relevant to the work in question. For example, the proposed website for Ireland Aid will contain links to development related websites, organisations in donor countries and multilateral organisations. Similarly, the website proposed for the Irish Presidency will contain links to relevant EU institutions.
I thank the Minister for his reply. Could he tell the House when he expects the updating of his Department's website to take place and when the Government will start to post draft positions on, say, the EU Presidency or the Convention on the Future of Europe on the site?
The review will take place in the new year so we should see the necessary improvements in place perhaps a few months later. Access is available to the portal on the Convention on the Future of Europe, and my Department's website includes speeches, comments and contributions by Government representatives.
Does the Minister have details of the number of visits each day to the website of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the origin of such visits, whether they are domestic or from overseas? I understand one can obtain such information relatively easily, I have even done it on my own website.
I do not have that information to hand but I will seek to obtain it for the Deputy.
Obviously it would be useful to store that sort of information.
Yes, and I will seek to provide the information for the Deputy.