Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

I understand the point that the Deputy is making and respect his opinion. I hope, however, he can appreciate that we have a difficulty in this regard. The Department has received 4,300 written and oral questions, which is 13% of the total number of parliamentary questions. The amount of man hours required to answer them is substantial. I am the first to admit that we have to make improvements. We want to develop a more effective procedure and we are working on our information technology systems to increase our efficiency. If the Deputy wishes to raise certain issues, I am willing to arrange for him to meet officials of my Department so that we can rectify whatever difficulties may have arisen.

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