Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 150: To ask the Taoiseach if his Department has carried out a study of opening hours of public offices under the control or remit of his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32009/07]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 152: To ask the Taoiseach the opening hours of his Department's public offices and public phone lines and if they close for lunch; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32059/07]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 153: To ask the Taoiseach the opening hours for the public offices and telephone lines and if they close for lunch for each of the agencies and State bodies that are under the control of his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32074/07]

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 150, 152 and 153 together.

My Department has not carried out a study of opening hours of the public offices under its control. However, the Deputy will be aware that access to public services and choice in how those services are delivered (including opening) are two of the core principles of the Quality Customer Service Initiative. My Department uses customer surveys on a regular basis to establish customer needs and to feed this information into its customer charter and customer actions plan, to meet any service gaps that may be identified.

My Department's business hours are 9.00am to 7.00pm from Monday to Friday and the Department's switchboard operates during this time. My Department does not close for lunch. There are normally Departmental staff on duty and available outside normal hours in addition to a 24 hour security presence. My Department is open to the public between 10.00am and 2.30pm every Saturday for the tours of Government Buildings. There are a number of other channels available which can be utilised by our customers to communicate with my Department, such as e-mail, website feedback forms, post and fax.

The opening hours for the CSO offices in Cork and Rathmines are 9.15am to 5.30pm Monday to Thursday and 9.15am to 5.15pm on Friday. These opening times were reviewed when the CSO updated its Customer Service Action Plan for 2007 to 2009. The outcome of this review was to increase the opening times for the library in the Rathmines office, which is open from 9.30am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday and is closed for lunch each day from 1.00pm to 1.30pm. CSO telephone lines are open at the above times.

The CSO website (www.cso.ie) plays an ever-increasing role in publishing statistics and provides "always on" access to all the CSO's statistical releases and publications. The CSO Customer Service Action Plan 2007-2009 is also published on the website.

The offices of the National Economic and Social Development Office are open from 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday. They are closed for lunch between 1.00pm and 2.00pm. A receptionist is on duty while the office is open and answers telephone calls coming in to NESDO's direct line (01- 8146300). If the receptionist is off duty for any reason, there is a system in place where the caller is presented with options to select one of the constituent bodies (NESDO, NESC, NESF or NCPP) by dialling a digit.

The call is automatically forwarded to staff in the body selected. After 5.00pm, NEDSO has a pre-recorded message informing the caller that the office is closed, the official opening hours and inviting the caller to leave a message if they wish. Messages are monitored by the receptionist the morning of the following working day and relayed to the relevant staff.

NESDO has a direct dial in facility i.e. if the caller knows the extension of the person they wish to talk to, they can phone that number directly without going through reception. While the official opening hours are 9.00am to 5.00pm as stated above, there are normally staff in the office from 7.30 am through to 6.30 pm as the office operates flexitime. It also has a recorded message facilities on all staff phones. Staff can access these messages when they return to their desks, or indeed by phoning in to their extension from outside.