A West Cork minister has become the first TD to offer constituents a Skype link to his clinics.
A WEST Cork minister has become the first TD to offer constituents a Skype link to his clinics.
Fine Gael TD for Cork South West and Minister of State Jim Daly, plans to bring his service to West Cork constituents into the 21st century with his Skype Advice Clinics.
Along with all the traditional forms of connecting with constituents, such as weekly advice clinics in each of his three constituency offices, house visits and daily phone calls, the Minister is giving constituents another option of connecting with him to seek advice or express their views on various issues.
‘From my experience, meeting people face-to-face is the best option for all involved, and Skype delivers face-to-face meetings, all be it with the use of modern technology,’ he explained.
Minister Daly has one of the longest commutes of any TD to Dáil Eireann so he does not get the opportunity to meet constituents on Dáil sitting days.
‘But now with my Skype clinics, I will be able to hold more face-to-face meetings and give more options to my constituents to connect with me.
‘I plan to make the Skype clinics available to my constituents on Wednesday evenings around 8pm and will be advertising them accordingly. This, I hope, will suit people who work by day and give them another method of meeting with me,’ he told The Southern Star.
The Clonakilty-based TD also admitted it would give him a chance to test the connectivity between West Cork and Dublin. He will provide the use of a laptop in his constituency office, and other locations around West Cork, so that people who do not use computers can just arrive at the advertised location and have a conversation with the Minister, as a local staff member will initiate the call for them.