Taxpayers’ value for money questioned when up-keep of one site costs 8,300 times more than another
Figures released to Fine Gael Senator Paschal Donohoe from Government departments show serious inconsistencies in the amount of money being spent on the annual maintenance of websites by each department (see table from PQ info below).
“Figures I have received from Government departments highlight very large discrepancies in how much each division is spending on the maintenance of their websites with the up-keep of one site coming in at little more than €60 and another totalling more than half a million – a staggering 8,302 times more.
“Information from the Department of Transport showed that the maintenance costs alone for the online motor tax website (www.motortax.ie) came in at a whopping €523,000 for 2009. While this site hosts a considerable amount of traffic (in excess of four million unique site visits last year) this inordinate figure still doesn’t stand up when consideration is given to the fact that the Company Registration Office (www.cro.ie), which had an estimated 600,000 unique visits in 2009, is maintained for an annual fee of €5,000.
“Site preservation at the Department of Social & Family Affairs is recorded as significantly lower with fees for 2009 for www.socialinclusion.ie amounting to just €232.07 (60,000 unique hits in 2009) and www.combatpoverty.ie, which had with 93,307 unique visits, site maintenance costing just €423.75. The site with the lowest maintenance cost was in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food for the Animal Welfare Advisory Council (www.fawac.ie) which cost just €62.99 for the year and which saw more than of 20,000 unique visits to the site.
“The internet is now the choice of many for dealing with public services and it makes sense, saving time and money for individuals, to conduct income tax affairs, to get local information or to check out your rights online. It is therefore vital that the Government does all it can to provide information via the net and that it does so in a cost effective manner.
“These figures show a wide disparity across Government departments which need to be critically examined and reviewed. Now more than ever we must make sure that procurement practices are delivering good value for money and that departments are learning from each other in how to drive, use and track the success of their site. It’s a worrying, and indeed a telling, sign that the activities of some sites are not being monitored at all.”
Parliamentary Questions attached
SITE | ANNUAL SUPPORT & MAINTENANCE CHARGE | 2009 UNIQUE VISITS | |
Dept of Taoiseach | |||
taoiseach.gov.ie | €1,815.00 | 470,199 | |
onegov.ie | |||
(formerly bettergov.ie) | €1,815.00 | (onegov) 23,470 | |
(bettergov) 97,480 | |||
betterregulation.ie | €1,815.00 | 9,287 | |
orp.ie | €1,815.00 | 2,404 | |
activecitizenship.ie | €1,815.00 | (Aug to Dec only) 6,878 | |
inp.ie | NIL | 8,623 | |
forumoneurope.ie * | NIL | (Jan to Sept only) 89,915 | |
*The forumoneurope.ie website is no longer active but will continue to be available as an information resource. The support and maintenance charge for this site in 2009 was €2,587.95. | |||
Dept of Enterprise, Trade & Employment | |||
Website Address | Annual Maintenance Cost | No. of Unique Visits in 2009 | |
www.entemp.ie | €5,212 | 599,764 | |
(The Department’s website) | |||
www.solvitireland.ie | €2,174 | Not recorded | |
(The website of the problem-solving network created to solve problems that EU citizens or businesses may be experiencing with alleged denial of their Internal Market rights) | |||
www.esf.ie | €4,811 | 6,806 | |
(The website for the European Social Fund in Ireland) | (50% ESF co-funded) | ||
www.equal-ci.ie | €83 | Not recorded | |
(The website for the ESF co-funded EQUAL Community Initiative in Ireland) | (50% ESF co-funded) | ||
www.ideasbank.ie | €365 | Not recorded | |
(The website was set up under the Equal Community Initiative to serve as a repository of innovative ideas. Currently, the site is not in operation) | (50% ESF co-funded) | ||
www.employmentrights.ie | €7,000 | 383,300 | |
(The website of the National Employment Rights Authority) | |||
www.eatribunal.ie | €6,123 | 3,112,970 | |
(The website of the Employment Appeals Tribunal) | |||
www.labourcourt.ie (The website for the Labour Court) | €27,486 | 2,618,156 (page hits between 14 October and 31 December) | |
www.worklifebalance.ie | €2,147 | 41,529 | |
(The website supporting the National Framework Committee for Work Life Balance Policies.) | |||
www.patentsoffice.ie | €16,516 | 294,552 | |
(The website for the Patents Office) | |||
www.basis.ie | €65,103 | 85,763 | |
(The website developed to provide business with a single access point to all Government information and services.) | |||
www.clrg.org | €500 | 10, 908 | |
(The website of the Company Law Review Group) | (extrapolated based on monthly statistics) | ||
www.odce.ie (The website of the Office of the Director if Corporate Enforcement) | €6,966.75 | 212,863 | |
1 Jan.– 7 Dec. 2009 (inclusive) | |||
www.cro.ie (The website of the Companies Registration Office (CRO)) | €5,000 | 600,000 | |
(extrapolated from the Jan 2009 number of visits of 48,417 visits) | |||
www.core.ie (A document processing environment and communications mechanism of the CRO) | €22,891 | There are 96,384 unique registered users. This is the only figure available so it is not possible to give a figure for the number of unique visits | |
Department of Education | |||
The Department has one website. This figure (€21,000) includes a contribution of €6,929 to the
Local Government Computer Services Board (LGCSB) for hosting the website |
€21,000 | 568,429 | |
Department of Health and Children | |||
Website | Description | No.of unique visits | Cost |
DoH&C group sites | |||
www.dohc.ie | Department of Health & Children website | 430,393 | |
www.cpsqa.ie | Commission on Patient Safety and Quality Assurance website | * Not available | |
www.healthreform.ie | Health Service Reform Programme website | * | |
www.mentalhealthpolicy.ie | Expert group on mental health policy website | * | |
www.blooddirective.ie | Website for the implementation of the EU Blood Quality and Safety Directive 2002/98/EC | * | |
Total cost for DoH&C | These sites are managed as a single contract. | * | €11,138 |
group websites | |||
www.adoptionboard.ie | Adoption Board of Ireland website | * | €719 |
OMCYA group sites | |||
www.omcya.ie | Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs website | 108,891 | |
www.comhairlenanog.ie | Provides information on the role and purpose of Comhairle na nÓg and links to all Comhairle na nÓg websites throughout the country | 2,704 | |
www.childrensdatabase.ie | Provides access to research and information on children for policy-makers, Government departments, academics, voluntary organisations and the general public | 7,254 | |
www.nprrc.ie | The National Play and Recreation Resource Centre provides information, support and advice on a range of issues affecting the development of children’s play in Ireland | 2,903 | |
www.ncac.ie | National Children’s Advisory Council website. The mission of the National Children’s Advisory Council is to make a difference to children and young people’s lives, by making childhood and youth a more positive and enjoyable experience for everyone | * | |
www.studentcouncil.ie | Student Council Second Level Support Service website, the aim of the service is to provide ongoing support for all student council liaison teachers. (now transferred to Dept. of Education and Science) | * | |
(until mid 2009) | |||
Cost for | All the OMCYA websites, except www.teenspace.ie are managed as a single contact. | €9,598 | |
OMCYA group sites | |||
www.teenspace.ie | Teenspace provides information on events, activities and recreation services for young people from 10 to 18 | 108,550 | €12,698 |
Total cost for all | All the OMCYA websites including www.teenspace.ie | €22,296 | |
OMCYA sites | |||
Total cost for all sites | €34,153 | ||
Department of Transport | |||
Website | Site Reference | Number of unique visits in 2009 | Annual maintenance cost |
€ (inc VAT) | |||
Department of Transport | transport.ie | 134,089 (Mar 09 – Dec 09) | |
€12,000 | |||
Road Haulage | roadhaulage.ie | Not Available | |
Air Accident Investigation Unit | aaiu.ie | Not Available | |
Irish Coastguard | irishcoastguard.ie | Not Available | |
Safety On the Water | safetyonthewater.ie | Not Available | |
Online motor tax | motortax.ie | 4,338,186 | |
€523,000 | |||
motarchain.ie | 8,411 | ||
Change of vehicle ownership | motortrans.ie | 373,819 | |
Transport 21 | transport21.ie | 78,780 | €900 |
Sustainable transport | smartertravel.ie | 1,185 (Nov 09 – Jan 10) | €3,000 |
National Bike week | bikeweek.ie | 14,861 (May 09 – Dec 09) | €6,000 |
Department of Foreign Affairs | |||
Website | Annual Cost of Maintaining Site | No of Unique Visits for 2009 | |
Department of Foreign Affairs family of website including 68 Embassy websites and the passport application tracking site | €72,120 | 2,114,675 | |
Irish Aid family of websites | €32,435 | 113,004 | |
Dublin Cluster Munitions Conference website | €900 | 2,563 | |
Africa Day 2009 website (launched May 2009 – includes total set up costs incurred in 2009) | €9,072 | 12,564 | |
Communicating Europe Initiative website (launched 30 June 2009 – includes total set up costs incurred in 2009) | €46,937 | 31,577 | |
Global Irish Economic Forum website (launched 1 September 2009 – includes total set up costs incurred in 2009) | €15,992 | 7,665 | |
1 | Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism website | ||
Website address: | www.arts-sport-tourism.gov.ie | ||
Annual maintenance cost in 2009 | €4,839.25 | ||
No. of unique visits in 2009 | 131,271 unique visitors and 3,947,058 hits | ||
2 | National Archives of Ireland website and 1911 Census Search facility | ||
Website address: | www.nationalarchives.ie | ||
Annual maintenance cost in 2009 | €49,175 | ||
No. of unique visits in 2009 | 3,966,337 unique visitors and 187,423,403 hits | ||
3 | Irish Genealogy website and the Church Records Search facility | ||
Website address: | www.irishgenealogy.ie | ||
Annual maintenance cost in 2009 | €3,831.50 | ||
No. of unique visits in 2009 | 100,957 unique visitors and 4,667,216 hits | ||
4 | Culture Ireland website | ||
Website address: | www.cultureireland.gov.ie | ||
Annual maintenance cost in 2009 | €9,483.50 | ||
The number of unique visits in 2009 to the Culture Ireland website is not currently available but will be forwarded to the Deputy in due course. | |||
Department of Defence | |||
Site Name | Unique Hits | Cost € | |
2009 | 2009 | ||
Department of Defence | defence.ie | Unavailable | |
27,340 | |||
Civil Defence | civildefence.ie | Unavailable | |
Office of Emergency Planning | emergencyplanning.ie | 55,817 | 14,220 |
Permanent Defence Forces | military.ie | 17,122 | |
36,146 | |||
Reserve Defence Forces | rdf.ie | 17,384 | |
Department of Social & Family Affairs | |||
www.welfare.ie | 2.75million | €47,248 | |
www.socialinclusion.ie | 57,309 | €232.07 | |
www.combatpoverty.ie | 93,307 | €423.75 | |
Dept. Justice, Equality, Law Reform | Total for cost for site | ||
23 websites in total | www.justice.ie | 250,000+ | |
www.inis.gov.ie | 500,000+ | ||
€38,408 | |||
Dept Community, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs | |||
www.pobail.ie | 30,201 | €9,085 | |
www.dormantaccounts.ie | Not available | €3,887 | |
Hosting cost of both sites | €21,141 | ||
Logainm.ie
(Cost includes site development and maintenance) |
91,770 | €257,334 | |
Department of Agriculture | |||
Website Name | Annual maintenance cost (ex vat) for each site in 2009 | The number of unique visits each site received in 2009 | |
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie | €7,306.69 | 851,308 | |
http://www.fawac.ie | €62.99 | 21,256 | |
http://www.fishingnet.ie | €69.99 | 13,003 | |
http://www.killybegsharbour.ie | €69.99 | 9,715 | |
http://www.pcs.agriculture.gov.ie | Nil | 42,906 | |
http://www.pots.agriculture.gov.ie | Nil | 11,101 | |
http://www.agriappeals.gov.ie | Nil | 21,162 (April 09-Dec. 09) | |
http://www.agrifood2010.ie | €62.00 | 1,200 (Circa) | |
http://www.agri-vision2015.ie | €62.99 | 1,500 (Circa) | |
http://www.coastalhelicopterview.ie | €69.99 | 1,245 * | |
http://www.efabis.ie | €62.00 | 4,000 (Circa) | |
http://www.prism.ie | €69.99 | 1,250 * | |
Department of Communications, Energy & Natural Resources | |||
Websites |
Unique Visits |
Cost |
|
www.dcenr.gov.ie |
116,286 |
€79,914 |
|
www.egovernance.ie |
1,022 |
||
www.minex.ie |
4,558 |
||
www.broadband.gov.ie |
67,694 |
||
www.digitaltelevision.ie |
23,082 |
||
www.explorationandmining.com |
91 |
||
www.makeitsecure.ie |
27,889 |
||
www.gsi.ie |
44,538 |
||
www.gsishop.ie |
5,530 |
||
wwwgsiseabed.ie |
4,415 |
||
www.planetearth.ie |
7,817 |
||
www.jetstream.gsi.ie |
409 |
€15,600 |