Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

The reference in the organisation review programme report is to a finding in our business customer survey for 2005-06, which surveyed 328 business customers and found that of 47 who had made a complaint, over half had not had their complaint resolved at the time of the survey. As the survey was carried out on an anonymous basis it is not possible at this stage to identify either the business customers concerned or the nature of their complaints.

I can assure the Deputy that my Department makes every effort to ensure that all complaints are dealt with and I would like to take this opportunity to highlight some areas where we have made improvements for our business customers. In May 2008, the Department introduced a new on-line facility that enables approved motor dealers notify vehicle ownership changes to the national vehicle and driver file, NVDF, over the Internet. The new on-line service at www.motortrans.ie presents an alternative to paper-based arrangements. In addition, the processing time for road transport operator licences has decreased from approximately 20 working days in 2006 to under five, and changes or additions to licences from ten working days in 2006 to two. Furthermore, following decentralisation to Loughrea in May 2007, the public office opening hours were extended by 1.5 hours per day.

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