John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Question 29: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason there is no link to the Office for Social Inclusion on the homepage of his Department's website. [17544/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides a comprehensive information service to the public through a range of media such as publications, advertisements, Community Information centres etc. The Department's website, www.welfare.ie, which was launched in 1996 plays a key role in providing information to the public. Over 100,000 people visit the site every month, with 2.5 million page visits so far this year. It provides a valuable resource to customers with regard to the range of entitlements to social welfare schemes and services.

The homepage of the website provides access through the 'links' icon to all the agencies under the aegis of my Department. The Office for Social Inclusion (OSI) www.socialinclusion.ie is directly accessible from this link. Other agencies accessible through this icon include Comhairle, The Pensions Board, Office of the Pensions Ombudsman, the Combat Poverty Agency and the newly launched Family Support Agency website. Information on the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) and Reach, both of which come under the remit of my Department, is also available via the 'links' icon on the homepage.

In addition to links with websites of agencies of my Department, the page includes links to other government agencies in the State and to social security websites from around the world. The page receives an average of over 2,000 visits per month.

Ensuring that services are accessible to people with different needs and abilities is a key priority in the development of electronic information services. My Department's website has been developed to be fully compliant with international standards for people with disabilities. One such development allows people with visual impairment to use special screen reading software to have the text read out by their computer.

Ensuring that all information is produced in a simple, clear, easy to read format and that it is accessible to people with different levels of literacy ability or for whom English or Irish is not their first language is also a key priority for my Department. A close relationship has been developed with The National Adult Literacy Association, (NALA) to help us achieve these objectives. The Guide to Social Welfare Services is available on our website in both Irish and English and has recently been made available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Polish, Russian and Spanish.

My Department encourages feedback on the website through customer comments, updates the website as necessary and takes on board suggestions for improvements received from users of the site. A Strategic Review of its website is currently being undertaken. The review is focused on ensuring the provision of a quality information service to customers, particularly those seeking access to social welfare schemes and services. I will have the Deputy's observations looked at in the context of the review.

While I am satisfied that the approach being adopted by my Department to providing information services to customers, including the approach to the web site, is appropriate and progressive, I welcome all comments and suggestions that further improve access to what is a constantly evolving and expending information system.