Vol. 490 No. 3
59 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the fact that many Government publications and reports do not have indices, which, in the case of substantial reports, would be of particular benefit to the public; the proposals, if any, he has to provide indices to be included in future Government reports and publications; the additional cost, if any, involved in this policy development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10154/98]
The functions of the Government Supplies Agency, GSA, are, inter alia, to arrange for the printing, publication, distribution and sale of parliamentary and other Government publications. This includes Bills, Acts, Statutory Instruments, SIs, Iris Oifigiúil, reports of committees, working groups, advisory bodies etc. Also, to distribute and sell in this country “agency” publications, i.e. publications of the European Union, EU, World Health Organisation, WHO, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD, United Nations and other such international bodies.
Apart from publication of Iris Oifigiúil, the GSA does not normally initiate publications. Instead, it is normal for Departments to request the GSA to initiate publication on their behalf. Any measures to publicise or to promote the distribution of a Government publication, including the provision of an index, are normally taken by the sponsoring Department or body.
I have requested the GSA to circulate all Departments asking them, where feasible, to include an index in their future publications. I should point out that indexing is a specialised skill and will add to the cost of publication as well as adding to the time it takes to print material.
