Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I do interviews with the media all the time on any subject and where any issue can be raised. This medium of the Internet was used to set out the work of the day, what took place at meeting and its relevance to the Irish public. As I understand it, I am not obliged to pick and choose what media I deal with. I deal with them all, including the Internet. There is no more to it than that and if I get the opportunity to use this Internet medium to bring to public attention what it is the Government is doing and what is happening in the course of my job, I do not see a problem with it. One of the great criticisms from the Opposition is a perceived dearth of information and that we need to get more information out there. It seems that when there is more information out there, the Opposition has a problem with that as well.

It would be intended to use that medium in addition to all other media to ensure that people are made aware of particular Government activities etc. The purpose of the new website is that of a service to citizens who wish to get a clearer view of the work of Government. Each Department has a responsibility to communicate its actions and policies and all Departments have websites as part of the process. By and large, the websites of Departments are text-based and the new website is capable of far greater integration of audio-visual material and with its links to social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter, it allows for the sharing of information between citizens.

All Departments communicate their press releases to www.merrionstreet.ie . It is the job of the site to add an audio-visual dimension to the key information and make it available for distribution on more modern Internet channels. All Government press releases should be visible on the site by means of really simple syndication, RSS, feeds. The site's editorial team is tasked with communicating information on Government policy and action in a format more suited to modern Internet methods. Its role is to report the work of Departments, Ministers and the Taoiseach in a factual manner, which is what it does.

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