Public favours human touch in civil service
A poll of almost 1,000 adults showed three-quarters either phoned or visited the last time they contacted a public service such as the Passport Office.
By contrast, 18% visited a government website while a mere 4% had emailed the department they needed — despite government investment in electronic communications.
Of those who dislikedusing the internet to contact public servants, one in three said they preferred dealing with a human being.
The survey was carried out by a communications firm that sells telephone systems as well as internet and text message services to business and government departments.
The poll follows last week’s Irish Examiner survey of 110 telephone helplines, hotlines and switchboards and the time the public has to wait to speak to a customer service adviser.
The Examiner’s poll found delays of up to 11 minutes as callers were presented with baffling options while being put on hold by an automatically answered phone service.
Of the 110, the longest waits were on calls answered automatically by computer, while hotlines answeredimmediately by humans had the shortest waits.
Yesterday’s survey, by the Damovo firm, revealed 261 or 28% of the 931 adults polled at random believed contacting public services had become harder in the past four years.
More than three-quarters wanted to see the Government invest in technology to make it easier to contact public services, with younger respondents favouring email or text.
Of those who did contact public services online, most had renewed their car tax but fewer than one-in-four had used the internet to deal with their taxes, pay for a public service or book an NCT for their car.
