Public office service levels archaic, claims FG

LATE-morning starts, early-evening finishes and closed at lunch and Saturdays — it seems all that is missing from the 21st century public office is the quill pen and carrier pigeon.

A survey by Fine Gael has shown that opening hours in the public offices of the civil service, government bodies and state agencies are often far too restrictive to be user-friendly in a time-pressed society.

The party checked out 100 facilities, ranging from widely used motor tax, passport and social welfare offices to more specialised operations such as the Patents Office and Registry of Deeds, and found that only three of them were open after 6pm on any weekday and only nine opened on Saturdays — of which seven were museums and galleries rather than essential services.