Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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212. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if the email addresses of his Department are being manned; and if so, when a person (details supplied) can expect to receive a reply to their query. [29160/21]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The email addresses referenced in the Deputy’s enquiry are manned daily by my officials at the Departments offices in Shannon. The initial response is automated, with links to the appropriate areas in the website that addresses frequently asked questions. If such links do not address the query, the customer can reply to the automated response seeking further assistance, and one of my officials will respond. Effectively all such queries that are referred to my officials are addressed within 24 hours. 

The records on the NVDF indicate that the individual concerned emailed the Department (at one of the email addresses provided) on 14 May 2021 just after 12 noon. She sought further assistance and a reply was issued from my officials at 15.02 that same afternoon, to the email address the query was issued from. The query itself referred to the non-receipt of a motor tax disc. The response stated that the tax disc in question had not been returned undelivered to our offices by an Post. The response also set out how a replacement motor tax disc could be sought. The Department have no record of any further response from the individual concerned, and were unaware of any continuing issues in this regard.

Today (1st June 2021)  the customer was contacted by officials in my Department by telephone and by email to confirm address details.  We have posted out a further application form with a pre-paid envelope to allow the customer to apply to Cork Motor Tax Office for a replacement document.  Officials in my Department will maintain contact with this customer to ensure that she has a replacement disc supplied to them.