Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 88: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the different types of applications processed by his Department; the average waiting time to process each application; the steps he is taking to speed up the processing time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25129/07]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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My Department processes a wide variety of different applications from Employment Agency Licenses to Grants for Trade Union Amalgamations, from Insolvency Payments, Redundancy Lump Sums and Rebates to Export and Import Licenses and from Employment Permits to Applications for the approval of the prospectus for a proposed Business Expansion Scheme (BES), to name but a few.

We operate a Customer Charter under which ambitious targets are set for the processing of various applications under a wide variety of schemes. My Department strives under the Charter to deliver a Quality Customer Service to all our customers. Where a sudden increase in demand for applications under a particular scheme results in a longer processing time than provided for, we endeavour to take corrective action at the earliest opportunity to bring our Customer Service back into line with Charter Commitments.

Naturally, given the wide range of schemes we operate, the targets we set for processing individual applications vary considerably under the different schemes. For example, Import License applications are generally processed within 2 days whereas an Export License application may take between 5 and 25 days to process depending on whether the Department of Foreign Affairs and/or other EU Member States have to be consulted.

In addition to the many and varied schemes operated by my Department, the Companies Registration Office and the Office of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, which both come under my Department's remit, also exercise a number of statutory functions under which a variety of applications are made to both Offices. In this regard, both Offices also endeavour to process all applications as efficiently as possible. However, as Minister, I have no role to play in the exercise of those statutory functions.

My Department seeks to operate as speedy a decision-making timeframe on all applications as possible consistent with our obligations to examine carefully every single application under whichever scheme we receive. To this end, and as part of the eGovernment agenda, my Department has utilised information technology solutions to increase the efficiency and quality of internal work processes and also to provide a wider choice of access points to customers in terms of making applications online. My Department will continue to introduce further technologically-based solutions as appropriate.

Finally, the following tabular statement details the specific processing times currently applying is the various schemes administered directly by my Department. These can vary depending on demand. If Deputy Naughten has any specific details of delays in processing any specific applications I would be happy to have the matter investigated and report back to the Deputy.