The Irish Times on the Web, Ireland's busiest Internet site, is to launch a series of new services for its readers. A comprehensive jobs database will be aimed at people seeking employment in Ireland. Interest from people living abroad in finding jobs in Ireland is increasing dramatically. In January, more than 118,000 requests for information on appointments were received by The Irish Times on the Web.
The new service, which begins today, will provide readers of The Irish Times on the Web with the largest database on employment in Ireland as well as advice on personal taxation, insurance, mortgages and insurance.
The site is the first in Ireland to be audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations and can now accurately measure its readership. In October 1997, the first month of the audit, the website was visited 1.28 million times by almost 400,000 individual users who logged up 4.25 million page impressions.
Interactive versions of both Irish Times crosswords, Simplex and Crosaire, will also be available from today. Also new to the website is a special section devoted to cartoons by Martyn Turner.
The highest demand on the website continues to be for the electronic version of the front page of The Irish Times. The on-line newspaper is available at 4.00 a.m daily.
The "Sports Extra", a section which provides up-to-date results, includes comprehensive details of GAA club matches throughout the country.
A new genealogical database, which will assist those who wish to trace their Irish forebears, will be launched shortly. Coverage of important breaking news will continue.
The Irish Times on the Web won the 1997 Golden Spider Award as the best Irish commercial site on the World Wide Web. It can be accessed at http://www.irish-times.com