Customer Charter 2010 – 2012

Department of the Taoiseach

The Department of the Taoiseach is committed to providing a professional, efficient and courteous service to all our customers.

Our Mission

The Department of the Taoiseach’s mission is to provide the Government, Taoiseach and Ministers of State with the support, policy advice and information necessary for the effective conduct of Government and for the dynamic leadership, co-ordination and strategic direction of Government policy.

Our Mandate

Our mandate is to support the Taoiseach in his constitutional and ceremonial role as Head of Government and to assist him in providing effective leadership, co-ordination and guidance across key policy areas. The staff of the Department conscientiously and impartially serve the Taoiseach and Government of the day, the Ministers of State, the other institutions of State and the general public, always acting with diligence, efficiency and courtesy. We aim to ensure that our contribution to the development and implementation of Government policy adds value to the achievement of national and international goals.

Our Commitment to our Customers

We aim to provide an excellent service that reflects your needs and expectations. To achieve this we make the following commitments :-

· Policy Development and Implementation

We will aim to ensure that our contribution to the development and implementation of Government policy adds value to the achievement of our national and international goals.

· Contacting the Department

We will provide details of the role/function of staff in relevant publications and on the website and specific contact information in all correspondence.

You will receive clear, timely and concise replies to all correspondence, including emails. If your correspondence relates to a matter that comes within the remit of another public body, we will direct the correspondence to that body and inform you accordingly. If you contact us by telephone, courteous and helpful staff will deal with your query without delay or, if they are unable to respond to your query, arrange for someone to do so.

· Diversity and Equality

We will respect the principles of equality and the diversity of our customers in the delivery of all services.

· Statutory Obligations

We will ensure that we will operate within appropriate statutory obligations in dealing with our customers (e.g. Prompt Payments of Accounts, Equality and Health and Safety legislation).

Contacting the Department

Whether you call in person, write, email or telephone us, we will deal with your enquiry efficiently and promptly and treat you with courtesy and respect.

Written

Written correspondence should be addressed to -

Department of the Taoiseach, Government Buildings, Upper Merrion Street, Dublin 2

· All correspondence will be acknowledged within 3 working days of receipt.

· Full response to all correspondence within 15 working days of receipt or, where this is not possible, an interim reply to issue explaining the position and advising when a substantive response will issue.

· Contact name, telephone number and email address of staff member dealing with your query will be included in all written correspondence.

Email

Email correspondence should be addressed to webmaster@taoiseach.gov.ie or directly to the Quality Customer Service Officer, Mr Nason Fallon at customer.service@taoiseach.gov.ie

· All emails requiring a response acknowledged within 1 working day of receipt.

· Full response to all such emails within 15 working days of receipt or, where this is not possible, an interim reply to issue explaining the position and advising when a substantive response will issue.

· Use of automated email responses by all staff when out of the office.

· Contact name, telephone number and email address of staff member dealing with your query will be included in all email correspondence.

Telephone

You can contact the Department on the following telephone numbers –

1890 227227 (Lo-call)

6194000 (Main switch)

6194116 (Quality Customer Service Officer, Mr Nason Fallon)

· 90% of calls to main Department switchboard answered within 15 seconds.

· All callers directed to correct member of staff/section.

· All staff will identify themselves to caller when answering telephone by giving both their section and name.

· All callers transferred are notified, at a minimum, of the unit/section to which they are being transferred.

· No caller should be transferred more than once during one phone call.

· Response by staff to voicemail messages within 1 working day.

· Voicemail messages updated as appropriate to indicate staff availability.

Visiting the Department

All visitors to the Department will be treated in a courteous manner and directed to their destination efficiently and promptly.

Meetings will be organised and conducted efficiently and effectively. We will ensure timely notification and advance circulation of clear and concise documentation for each meeting. We will also ensure that our reception and meeting facilities are accessible, comply with Health and Safety standards and are maintained to the highest standard

We will ensure that tours of Government Buildings will be conducted by informed, qualified guides in order to make your visit enjoyable.

Accessibility

We will make every effort to ensure that our buildings and services are accessible to all.

We are committed to meeting our obligations under the Disability Act, 2005 and to further improve on the Department’s existing facilities and services wherever possible.

Contact Details

Access/Inquiry Officer in the Department of the Taoiseach

e-mail: accessofficer@taoiseach.gov.ie

Phone: 01 6194552

Disability Liaison Officer in the Department of the Taoiseach

e-mail: disabilityliaisonofficer@taoiseach.gov.ie

Phone: 01 6194038

Suppliers

We will operate clear, impartial and transparent tendering/purchasing procedures in accordance with the guidance on the procurement of supplies and services as set out in the Public Procurement Guidelines. We will ensure that payments to suppliers are made in accordance with the Prompt Payment of Accounts Act 1997.

Service through Irish

We will make every effort to accommodate customers who wish to conduct their business through Irish. We are committed to meeting our obligations under the Official Languages Act 2003 and in particular the commitments outlined in the Department’s Official Languages Scheme. We will endeavour to continuously improve the Department’s capability to conduct official business through the medium of Irish. Emails in Irish may be sent to gaeilge@taoiseach.ie

Media Services

We will provide a comprehensive information service to the national and international media and to the public on behalf of the Government, Taoiseach and his Department. In addition, we will promote a co-ordinated approach to media matters across Government Departments.

Websites/Publications

The Department has responsibility for a suite of websites which are designed to provide information on the Taoiseach and Government and on the Department and its activities.

We are committed to the ongoing maintenance and development of our websites to ensure that they are accessible, informative and up to date. We will ensure that our publications are clear, address user needs and are available on our websites.

Freedom of Information

The Department of the Taoiseach complies fully with the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 1997 and the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Act, 2003. We endeavour in the first instance to provide as much information as possible informally, without resort to the terms of the Act. However, should you wish to request information under the Act you should contact the Freedom of Information Officer, Ms Patricia Williams (email – foi@taoiseach.gov.ie , telephone (01) 6194154). A manual, which provides a guide to the functions, structures and classes of records of the Department to help access information under the Freedom of Information Acts is available at www.taoiseach.ie (under the “Department of the Taoiseach” subheading on the Home Page of the website).

Evaluating and Reporting on our Performance

The Department of the Taoiseach aims to continually improve our Customer Service and mechanisms are in place to measure and evaluate our performance against the commitments in our Charter. We will report on our performance in our Annual Report. Some of the measures we will use to assess our performance include –

· Feedback and suggestions from our customers on an ongoing basis.

· Consulting our customers through surveys, in-depth interviews, focus groups, mystery shopping exercises etc. and benchmarking our performance against previous results.

· Using internal management information systems (e.g. correspondence tracking systems, ringmaster, etc.)

· Disability Audits, compliance with National Health and Safety Standards, external evaluation websites, etc.

Complaints Procedure

We welcome your comments and suggestions on any aspect of our services. We also have a procedure for responding to any complaints you may have. If you are unhappy with the service you have received, please let us know. If it is not possible to resolve the complaint with the staff member or section you have been dealing with, you can address your complaint to the Quality Customer Service Officer. All complaints will be dealt with properly, fairly and impartially. We are committed to doing our very best to resolve such a situation.

For more information on this matter, you can access the Customer Complaint Procedure on the Customer Charter section of the Department’s website – www.taoiseach.gov.ie or telephone our Quality Customer Service Officer, Mr Nason Fallon on (01) 6194116.

How to Contact Us

The Department of the Taoiseach’s business hours are Monday to Thursday 9.15am to 5.30pm and Friday 9.15am to 5.15pm.

Department Address	Department of the Taoiseach Government Buildings Upper Merrion Street Dublin 2
Department Telephone/Fax Number	(01) 6194000 (Main Switchboard) 1890 227 227 (Lo-call) (01) 6789791 (Fax)
Department Email address	webmaster@taoiseach.gov.ie gaeilge@taoiseach.ie
Quality Customer Service Officer, Mr Nason Fallon	(01) 6194116 (Telephone) (01) 6194258 (Fax) customer.service@taoiseach.gov.ie (Email address)

Customer Charter 2010 - 2012.rtf (65 KB)
Customer Charter 2010 - 2012.pdf (47 KB)

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