Calls to directory enquiries cost the taxpayer over €40,000

Need a number nifty? Eh…don’t call directory enquiries if you work in Revenue as a TD has blasted “lazy” revenue workers for racking up a €40,000 phone bill that the taxpayer must now foot.

The Irish Daily Mirror reports that the €40,351 spent on directory enquiry numbers is almost €5,000 more than the average industrial wage of €35,856. Shocking. Maybe someone should tell them about these new-fangled inventions called phone books? Just an idea…

Out of a list of 10 Government bodies, it was Revenue that was the worst when it came to continually dialling the numbers instead of finding phone numbers elsewhere.

Speaking last night, a spokeswoman for the Government body said that the calls were “being looked into” but she defended the overuse of directory enquiry calls, stating that tax workers were in a unique position among other Government departments.

“We interact with every adult member of the population periodically and interact with every business in the stat one a regular basis,” she said.

“This can necessitate use of directory enquiry services by Revenue staff to ensure contact can be made with the correct person in a timely manner,” she added.

This is despite the fact that you can find virtually any residential phone number in a phone book, if it is included in the directory, or online for free.

Michael McGrath, Fianna Fail’s finance spokesman, said last night that the figures showed an “excessive use” of the service.

“This is simple laziness and it’s inexcusable. There needs to be a clampdown on use of these numbers by all Government departments,” he said.

“The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform needs to issue a directive advising on the use of directory enquiries that it should simply not be allowed except in exceptional circumstances,” he added.

The next highest spend on directory enquiry phone calls came from the Department of Agriculture, which has a  bill of €22,794 for the calls.

What do you think? Should they be allowed to keep making calls that are costing the taxpayer? Or should they all just be issued with a phonebook and a Google search?