Worst government sites in Ireland

If you really want to see just how much the Irish Government has adapted to the 21stcentury, log on to www.contrast.ie. The blog is IT guy, Eoghan McCabe's, extended rant on the web industry in Ireland, and in one particularly funny post, he takes a look at how bad some of the governmental web sites are, providing links for your amusement while providing a forum where you can add your own comment or simply just laugh at the ones already left there.

Apparently, for many Irish web designers out there, government sites are the “cash cows” of their industry. This may in fact explain why the sites are so bad – they will need constant modification, support and re-design when the mandarins become so embarrassed by the outdated websites of their departments. But McCabe does not limit himself to strictly governmental websites, taking broad swipes at all manner of public services, from Irish Rail to the Gardai.

Commenting on our national police force's web site, one commentator says:
“‘Welcome to the Garda Síochána Website. We do hope that you like it!' Christ on a bike… That one has to be the worst.”
There is no love lost here for some of our most controversial institutions by these bloggers. The HSE website is commended for its flippant organisational skills by one commentator “also available in small font size, love the small tables too”.

One comment even got an apology from Dublin City Council about their lack of style on their website: “Following the new development, funding for software development was exhausted. Dublin City Council, for the fiscal year 2008, has allocated funding for dublin.ie that will cover our development and software expenses.”

The Department of Transport's web site is rated as “a horrible web site and ironically very slow”. If nothing else this blog will give you some right old belly aches.

JOHN PAUL O'MALLEY