About 1.2 million laminated leaflets, each of which contains two cards, are now being delivered to houses throughout the Republic. Presumably the vast bulk of them will be binned.

The messages on the card are basic . . . including, for example, advice to get a receipt and act quickly if you have a complaint . . . so one wonders whether posting cards to every household in the country is the best use of the agency's budget.

Probably Ann Fitzgerald, who chairs the National Consumer Agency, along with her advisers, was concerned that putting the information on the agency's website would not reach enough people, and this may be true. But sending out a multitude of blue and white cards seems like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

The decision to call the consumer agency's website www. consumerconnect. ie is also surprising, as the name hardly trips off the tongue.

The agency also owns the rights to the domain name, www. irishconsumer. ie, and one wonders why this website wasn't promoted as it is a much more userfriendly address.