Irish public bodies now have some of the worst websites in Ireland. As I speak, most of the pages on the Department of Transport Site are broken. Dublin City Council’s Port Tunnel site hasn’t worked for months. The Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources site is designed rather strangely.

For instance, it has an option to request a braille version by post of any page on the site. Surely this must be a very expensive service to provide, as well as being a very slow way to surf the Internet? At the top of every page, the time in Dublin, Brussels and New York, but there is no ‘contact us’ link to allow you to find out the Department’s telephone number.

These aren’t complicated things. They’re basic and simple. There’s no point talking about e-government or e-services or any of the rest of it until link-checking and basic usability are under control.