217 Deputy Pat Rabbitte asked the Minister for Transport having regard to his policy on e-working as set out in Smarter Travel — A Sustainable Transport Future, if he will provide details of the number of civil servants in his Department who are currently e-working; his plans to increase the number of civil servants availing of e-working; if he will provide details of the numbers of civil servants he would hope to have e-working by end 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34207/10]

The Department has facilities in place which allow staff to undertake work while away from the Department's offices, including the provision of laptops, remote access to its email systems and Blackberry devices, and is currently investigating the options for extending access to other Departmental systems in addition to email. Through these and similar measures I would expect to see most civil servants in my Department increasingly engaged in e-working by 2013. Furthermore my Department currently has five officers engaged in tele-working. The Smarter Travel Plan 2009-2010 recognises that flexible and e-working policies can contribute to reducing the need to travel and to achieving modal shift.