Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 409: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his Department carries news summaries on their internal web; the persons who have access to such information; the way they access same; the person who compiles same; the cost of same; the regularity with which this information is updated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33720/07]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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There are a number of different news summaries and services used by my Department. Every weekday, a compilation of morning press highlights is emailed to staff. Press Highlights from the weekend are uploaded to the internal web on Monday mornings. This is, of course, a particularly important service for our 75 Missions overseas. This service is provided by the Irish Times New Media Division, with an annual cost of €49,164.

A summary of News Headlines is also emailed to all staff at 8 a.m., 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. These are complied by the Communications Unit at the Department of An Taoiseach and are provided at no cost to the Department. These daily news summaries are also placed on the Department's Intranet to which all staff with a computer have access. Also, on the Intranet, there are a number of news feeds provided by: RTE News; International Herald Tribune-Europe; MSNBC-US News; BBC News-Europe World Edition; Reuters; AP and International Herald Tribune-Asia Pacific. These news feeds are refreshed every 15 minutes and are provided free of charge.

My Department's library also provides more detailed, customised news and information updates to staff on request, to assist in the performance of their duties. This information is circulated to officers by e-mail. These specialised news services include material from: BBC Global newslines; Lexis Nexis; Intelligence Research publications; FT-online; and Reuters Wealth Manager.