Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 187: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the fact that many people have difficulty in contacting officials in his Department by phone; the arrangements in place in this regard; and his proposals to improve same. [12600/07]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I can inform the Deputy that callers contacting my Department's Head Office during office hours are generally put immediately through to the relevant officials or Division requested.

Insofar as applicants for visas, citizenship, residency status and related immigration matters are concerned, the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, which forms part of my Department, operates four separate help lines to handle their queries. Callers to the help lines are greeted by an automated answering service with recorded information messages and a menu option which effectively asks them which of the four help lines they wish to be connected to. When automatically put through to the help line they require, they speak to one of the staff assigned to the help line. I can also inform the Deputy that the maximum number of calls which are queued to each of the four help lines at any given time is ten.

I'm sure the Deputy will appreciate that there is a balance to be struck between the resources allocated to giving information about these applications and dealing with such applications and I can inform hin that the allocation of resources in this regard is kept under regular review.

Finally, it may also be of interest to the Deputy to note that the Department is in the process of replacing its current website with two new improved websites dealing with general Departmental matters and with the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service respectively. These websites will be introduced within the next few months and will considerably enhance the Department's communications with its customers and with the public generally.