Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Procedures for dealing with Ministerial correspondence, including representations made by Members of the Oireachtas, have been in place in my Department for a number of years. Related guidelines were formalised in line with requirements under the 2002 Civil Service Customer Charter Initiative and were most recently up-dated in October 2009. Under the guidelines the division handling the correspondence is required to submit a draft reply to my correspondence office within 14 days in order to facilitate compliance with the commitment in the Customer Charter that replies will issue within 20 working days. Where the response time cannot be achieved (e.g. where the material for reply is not readily available) the division is required to provide an interim reply. Every effort is made in my Department to ensure that correspondence is replied to promptly. To date in 2010 my correspondence office has received almost 2,000 items of correspondence, including representations from Members of the Oireachtas, and correspondence from other Foreign Ministries and Governments, and members of the public. This compares with almost 3,000 such items received during the whole of 2009.