Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 11 Oct 1994

Vol. 445 No. 6

Written Answers. - Updating of Telephone System.

Ivan Yates

Ceist:

152 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Finance if he will have arrangements made to update the telephone communications system in the Office of the Revenue Commissioners to ensure that there is a standardised cost for calls to this office by taxpayers; if his attention has been drawn to recent anomalies and variation in charges that were highlighted on page 14 in the recent Annual Report of the Revenue Commissioners relating to decentralisation; and when the high speed telephone links nationwide will be put in place. [871/94]

Minister for Finance (Mr. B. Ahern)

As part of the Government's decentralisation programme the Revenue Commissioners have decentralised a large part of the office to Nenagh, Ennis and Limerick. In order to maintain the same level of service to its customers at no greater cost the Commissioners provide a facility whereby customers in the 01 area can contact the aforementioned locations by calling a Dublin number, from which they will be connected at no extra cost. This onward transmission is effected by means of the Government Telecommunications Network, GTN, which is a private internal network used by Government Departments to facilitate speedy and cost efficient communication within and between Departments.

The reference to "high speed dedicated links" in the 1993 Annual Report of the Revenue Commissioners is a reference to use of the GTN between staff in Sarsfield House, Limerick, and other Revenue offices throughout the country, rather than a reference to a facility for public telephone access to Revenue offices.

As to the general question of variation in the level of telephone call charges and the standardisation of such charges by, for example, the provision of a freefone or 1850 service for all callers nationwide, I would refer the Deputy to the reply given by the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications in response to a question from Senator D. Neville on 5 May 1994, as recorded in the Seanad Official Report for that date.

The Commissioners are conscious of the need to keep telephone call charges from the public to a minimum and have instructed their staff to use the call-back service in cases where telephone queries to Revenue offices cannot be dealt with expeditiously.

The Commissioners are constantly endeavouring to minimise compliance costs and to improve both the level and quality of service to taxpayers and to this end I am informed by the Commissioners that they are currently in the process of setting up a central telephone information office which will make it possible for telephone callers to have their queries dealt with without the need to make additional calls to other offices. This new office will be modelled on the existing Revenue information offices, which cater for personal callers.