Vol. 495 No. 7
384 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Ordnance Survey Office recently withdrew a map sales and copying service which was available under licence through local authorities; if his attention has been further drawn to the inconvenience and delays this is causing; the reason for the withdrawal of the service; and when this service is likely to be restored. [21571/98]
Ordance Survey Ireland (OSI) has had an agreement with the County and City Managers Association licensing them to use OSI mapping products for internal use. Each local authority had the option under that agreement permitting them to offer copying services of the mapping products to the general public. During the term of the 1993-97 agreement, only three of the local authorities availed of the option. The return of revenue from these local authorities to OSI suggested that there was little or no interest in the service. As a result, OSI did not include this option in the recently signed agreement covering the period 1998-2002.
OSI is setting up a new service under which agents can supply OSI place maps from a locally installed computer database. This is intended to be a service which will more fully meet the requirements of customers. OSI is in discussion with a number of interested local authorities with a view to their offering the service to the general public.
