Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 156: To ask the Taoiseach if podcasts are available for download by members of the public on websites maintained by his Department and its agencies; if not, his plans to introduce podcasts as a communications tool; if so, the number of times a podcast has been downloaded to date in 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32385/07]

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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One podcast was made available to members of the public for download from my Department's main website (www.taoiseach.gov.ie) in May 2007. This dealt with my address to the Joint Houses of Parliament in Westminster and there were 413 downloads in the month following its publication. The Government Press Office continually monitors developments in communications technology and may use various forms of such technology on a case by case basis.

The Better Regulation (www.betterregulation.ie) and Better Government (www.bettergov.ie) websites are not currently set up for this facility and a high level of demand for this service is not foreseen as no such requests have been made to date. Similarly, there were no podcasts on the Active Citizenship website (www.activecitizen.ie) in 2007.

The NESDO group of websites (www.nesdo.ie, www.nesc.ie, www.nesf.ie, and www.ncpp.ie) do not presently offer a podcast service. However, the National Centre for Partnership and Performance (NCPP) are planning a major revamp of their website over the coming months. It is planned to make podcasts available, where appropriate, when the new site goes 'live'. Once the NCPP work is complete, a review of the rest of the NESDO group will take place, with a view to making this service available in these sites also.