Worst government sites in Ireland

Everyone knows government sites are the cash cows of the Irish web industry. They’re also, by far, amongst the worst in the country.

My favourites

Here’s a list of some of my favourite bad government or government-funded web sites. Thanks to one of Ireland’s top usability gurus — who shall remain nameless because his company is currently milking one of these cash cows — for helping me compile this list.

• Dublin.ie; funded by the Department of Environment
  and Dublin City Council but sporting Google ads?
• Lotto; “hello marquee, 1995 called , it misses you”.
• Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission by Artefact, using table technology.
• HSE, “also available with a smaller font size”, love the tables here too.
• Courts Service of Ireland; with the most schizophrenic layout I’ve see in a long time.
• Department of Transport; horrible site and ironically very slow.
• Department of Education; I have no smart comment for this one, only shame.
• BASIS, with a completely mental IA; it’s like getting stuck in a house of mirrors.
• Official Garda Website; I like the way this one brings back that interactive CD-ROM nostalgia.

Your favourites?

Post up any government sites you think need need more than a polish and also if you know who’s responsible for any of the sites above; surprisingly, it seems these “web designers” didn’t want credit for their work!