Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has given any consideration to the possibility of operating a central share or federated telephony switchboard for Government Departments that are connected to the Government network; if this type of service, in which all calls are sent to a shared switchboard service, delivering greater resilience, lower costs and increased call handling capacity, has been contemplated by the CMOD Unit of his Department; if any analysis of possibilities and challenges have been undertaken, and if so, if he will provide an outline of the findings of those analyses; the reduced staffing implications of such services would be; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14433/13]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Given the hundreds of individual services provided by Government Departments and the diversity of those services, it does not make operational or commercial sense to centralise the call-handling for all of these. Instead the public service has invested in a range of more practical solutions including IVR, Direct Dial-In, Lo-Call, 076 facilities, Voice over IP and Skype facilities. These facilities and the underlying Government Networks infrastructure have been implemented resiliently. These architectural approaches have resulted in a reduction in telecommunications costs across the Irish public service.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has considered the use of, or implemented, integrated voice response systems in his Department's phone systems or in the phone systems of agencies within his remit; if the staff and salary cost savings which might arise have been assessed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14505/13]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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As with all technologies, my Department uses Integrated or Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems in those areas where it makes sense and provides value to both the business and the customer. While IVR of itself does not contribute substantially to salary savings, it does, in certain circumstances, help to streamline the user experience so that services are better delivered.