Written answers

Friday, 7 September 2018

Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

Departmental Communications

Photo of Seán FlemingSeán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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216. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the positions in his Department and the organisations under its aegis that have arrangements in place for lo-call numbers or 1800, 1850 and 1890 telephone numbers for members of the public to contact his Department or organisations under its aegis; the number of these that are completely free to call for persons who use mobile telephones and may incur major bills telephoning such organisations; if the situation will be reviewed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36404/18]

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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In response to the Deputy, I can confirm that an 1890 lo-call phone number, in addition to a landline phone number, is available for members of the public to contact my Department. The lo-call number is available in my Department’s Quality Customer Service Charter.

The 1890 number provided will incur a cost to persons calling my Department using a mobile phone, the cost of which is dependent and determined by the mobile operator used. This is highlighted when the number is made available.

More generally, a review is underway by ComReg to examine ways of reducing costs incurred by members of the public when contacting Government Departments, with consideration given to a number of possible alternatives. A final decision on this review is expected by the end of the year.

Delivery of an effective and quality customer service is a priority for my Department. Officials in my Department will review ComReg’s final decision with a view to identifying the cheapest way of contacting the Department from anywhere in the country.

Taking the cost implications for mobile phone users into account my Department developed an alternate solution to reduce the cost to both the public and public bodies by the use of 076 numbers. The 076 numbers are designated as a non-geographic landline which means calls will be charged as a national call from all landlines and are part of the ComReg review.

The following table provides details of the lo-call numbers currently available in my Department and the bodies under the aegis of my Department.

Public BodyNo. of linesLoCall Number
Department of Public Expenditure and Reform11890
Office of Public Works 41890
Office of Public Works11850
Public Appointment Service11890
Office of the Ombudsman*31890
Economic and Social Research Institute**21800

The OPW advise that the different freefone/lo-call services can be defined as follows:

- Callsave 1850:Allows Callers to contact Service Providers at a fixed rate per call only from landlines. After a specified duration the OPW pays the balance on a per second basis.

- Lo-Call 1890: Allows Callers to contact Service Providers at local rates for the full duration of call. The OPW pays the balance. The call is charged at a local call rate these calls are generally in bundle with all carriers. In relation to mobiles this is defined by the mobile carrier the caller is with and the package they have, the mobile carrier determines the actual charge.

* The 3 lo-call numbers include the Office of the Ombudsman, the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information and the Referendum Commission

** There are two lo-call numbers available that provide for calls to be made free of charge to the caller. These Freephone numbers are available relation to the ESRI’s Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) Survey.

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