Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 239: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the number of websites his Department provides; the annual cost of maintaining each site; the number of unique visits each site received for 2009, or for a part of 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2235/10]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides two websites directly - one for the Department itself (www.pobail.ie) and one for Dormant Accounts (www.dormantaccounts.ie). The annual cost of maintaining each website is as follows:

Department €9,085

Dormant Accounts €3,887

There is also a combined hosting cost of €21,141 per annum for the two websites. The number of unique visits on the www.pobail.ie website for 2009 was 30,201. Data on the number of unique visits on the www.dormantaccounts.ie website for 2009 is not available, but visitor tracking has now been initiated and the relevant information will be available from January 2010 onwards. Finally, I wish to advise the Deputy that a database of Ireland's placenames, Logainm.ie, which was developed by Fiontar (DCU) and the Placenames Branch of my Department, was launched in October 2008. The site is maintained by Fiontar DCU on behalf of the Department. This is a public resource for Irish people at home and abroad, and for all those who appreciate the rich heritage of Irish placenames.

The site received some 1,309,485 hits (or 91,770 unique visitors) throughout 2009. The total cost of work on the site in 2009 was €257,334. It is not at this stage possible to distinguish between routine maintenance costs and further site development costs. While officially launched in 2008, the site continues to be developed with the addition of new features, including historical and research notes and sound files for individual placenames, and new placenames continue to be uploaded.