Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 October 2012
711. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will lay before the Dail Éireann the business case which justifies the reported spending of €495,000 by Tourism Ireland on the Ireland.com domain name, acquired from the Irish Times. [45986/12]
View answer712. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he was consulted on and subsequently approved the spending by Tourism Ireland of €495,000 on the purchase of the domain name Ireland.com from the Irish Times; the date on which he was first consulted and the date on which he provided any approval. [45987/12]
View answer716. Deputy Willie Penrose asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason Tourism Ireland which has purchased Ireland.com are shutting down the email address by 7 November 2012, which will result in chaos for subscribers who have numerous contact details built up over the years, and who now find themselves with just a three week notice period in which to deal with this unanticipated turn of events; if the closing down date of the 7 November 2012, will be extended to the 31 December 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46341/12]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 711, 712 and 716 together.
As I have previously stated, the decision to purchase the domain name “Ireland.com” from the Irish Times, to promote the island of Ireland overseas on the web, and an analysis of a business case in this regard are operational matters for Tourism Ireland Limited and its Board. The issue of accommodating existing @ireland.com email address holders in as helpful and fair a manner as possible is the responsibility of the Irish Times.
As the Deputies will be aware, Tourism Ireland was established under the framework of the Belfast Agreement of Good Friday 1998. It is jointly funded by the Irish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive, and operates under the auspices of the North/South Ministerial Council through the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland and my Department here.
With regard to consultations with my Department, Tourism Ireland first informed my Department in July 2012 that the opportunity to acquire the domain name "ireland.com" had arisen. The question of when I approved the purchase does not arise as it was an operational decision with the purchase price coming from existing resources allocated to the agency for the exercise of its functions. No supplementary or specific allocation is being made to Tourism Ireland from my Department for the purchase. In terms of the value for money involved, I understand that Tourism Ireland’s projections suggest that the costs of the acquisition will be fully recouped in just over three years.
Reverting to the issue of the existing email subscribers, I understand that the Irish Times have contacted all @Ireland.com subscribers to advise them that the email service will be discontinued from November 7th 2012 in terms of sending or receiving messages. Users will however, be able to access their account until December 7th for the purpose of transferring any data currently saved on their account. In order to help users to move easily to a new provider, I am informed that the Irish Times has a helpline in operation from 8 a.m to 8 p.m. and there is also a step-by-step guide available on the Ireland.com website to assist their customers with the transition. I obviously share the desire to ensure that nobody is inconvenienced by the purchase of the domain name. However, Tourism Ireland only bought the domain name, www.ireland.com, and not the customer database of email subscribers. Nevertheless, I understand that Tourism Ireland is in direct contact with the Irish Times to see if any further measures can be taken to minimise the inconvenience to existing e-mail account holders.
