206 Deputy Johnny Brady asked the Minister for Finance the amount spent by his Department and also by any bodies under his Department’s jurisdiction in each of the last three years on the provision of Internet applications (details supplied); the processes in place to ensure that such funds have been spent on good quality internet applications, in terms of accessibility, security and data protection [39126/10]

The information requested by the Deputy is contained in the following tables:

Office of the Revenue Commissioners

The Revenue Commissioners continues to be at the leading edge of eGovernment initiatives both across the breadth of the public service in Ireland and worldwide from a tax administration perspective. This has been recognised externally by the fact that the Revenue On-Line Service (ROS) has won numerous awards, including a Central eGovernment Award and an Inspired IT Award. Improvements in PAYE service delivery won a Taoiseach's Public Excellence Award and an Innovating Government Award for Services to Business.

Since 2005 Revenue has treated the development of internet applications as an integral element of all business projects. Since that time many initiatives have been implemented that have internet application components.

Costs given cover Revenue's public facing website (www.revenue.ie ) and its associated transactional services such as ROS and PAYE Anytime. It does not include those back-office services that are also part of the overall business solution. Costs of internal intranet services were of the order of €480,000 in total over the three years.

In relation to Special EU Programmes Body the Expenditure on the Internet applications is attributable to both the Department of Finance and The Department of Finance and Personnel Northern Ireland.

I have been informed by the Office of Public Works that it is currently collating the data requested by the Deputy and as soon as this process is completed they will forward the data directly to the Deputy.

207 Deputy Johnny Brady asked the Minister for Finance if his Department or any bodies under its jurisdiction provide or oversee the provision of financial support to businesses, charities or other public service organisations that are directly or indirectly used to assist those organisations with their marketing promotion or service delivery on the Internet; if so the processes in place to ensure that such funds are used to provide good quality Internet applications in terms of accessibility, security and data protection [39129/10]

My Department does not directly provide or oversee the provision of financial support to businesses, charities or other public service organisations that are directly or indirectly used to assist those organisations with their marketing promotion or service delivery on the internet. I have been informed by the Special Eu Programmes Body that there are opportunities for businesses, charities or other public service organisations to avail of funding for the purpose of assisting with marketing promotion or service delivery on the internet under the PEACE III and INTERREG IVA Programmes.

Whilst funding is not ‘ring fenced' or allocated specifically for this purpose, there are opportunities for projects to receive grant funding for internet related activities should they satisfy the defined selection criteria of the relevant Programme. Calls will be made for funding applications throughout the Programming period (2007-2013) as required and in line with normal public expenditure requirements, all applications are subject to a robust and defined assessment process.

It is the responsibility of the lead project partner to implement the project and therefore ensure that any accessibility, security and data protection requirements are met. That said, the SEUPB can and does issue guidance to project partners relating to procurement and tendering to ensure that quality and value for money is achieved. The SEUPB can also, where particular concerns arise, include specific conditions within the Project's Letter of Offer. The SEUPB or relevant implementing body will then monitor the implementation of the project against the conditions and outputs outlined within the Letter of Offer on a quarterly basis.

In addition to funding provided directly for the purposes of internet related activity, all project receiving PEACE III and INTERREG IVA funding must satisfy a number of communication and publicity requirements in line with European Regulation.

Relating to internet activity, projects are obliged to create a dedicated webpage for the project. It is the responsibility of the lead project partner to ensure that provisions for security and data protection are taken into account. However, the SEUPB, in its role as Managing Authority for the PEACE III and INTERREG IVA Programmes, does organise a number of communications and publicity workshops throughout the year which focus on issues such as internet development, dissemination of information, security, and management. As outlined above, projects will also be obliged to comply with a Procurement and Tendering Guidance Note in the purchasing of internet or related services.