The decision to establish the Readers' Representative's Office in The Irish Times was taken 12 years ago as a result of research and debate on law and media responsibility.

The aim is to provide easy access for readers to voice their views, make complaints, and offer prompt and effective remedies to grievances. The advantage for the newspaper is the opportunity to learn about mistakes and put them right.

No newspaper in the world can guarantee to be error free. In The Irish Times more words than would fit into about three novels are produced and processed during a brief period every night and the paper must be printed and dispatched in time to reach all of its potential readers. It is inevitable therefore that, no matter how much care is taken, mistakes will be made.

But excuses about the volume of information or pressure of deadlines cut no ice with the Editor, Conor Brady, at each morning's editorial conference. He has declared: "If we do not get our facts right we fail in the most essential and fundamental test of our craft or profession. If we fail in our commitment to accuracy, we surrender our entitlement to call upon the confidence and trust of our readers."

The duty of all newspapers is to their readers. As a reader, you subscribe to The Irish Times on the understanding that it will offer journalism which is honest, accurate and comprehensive. If we fail you, you expect us to admit those failures and take steps to remedy them. The Readers' Representative's Office provides a mechanism for doing this. It registers complaints and facilitates the expedition of corrections.

There are no hard and fast rules for dealing with complaints, except that details of each one are logged and brought to the attention of the relevant writer or editor. Each is then judged on its merits.

In the case of a request for a correction, the first step is an approach to the writer for his or her response and usually a request to check out what the reader has said. Many complaints are easily dealt with but some can take many hours or even days. It may be necessary to check with a number of sources before we are satisfied we have the full story. The recurring nightmare is having to correct a correction.

Actions taken as a result of an investigation vary. A correction may be published in the Corrections and Clarifications column; the reporter may correct the mistake in a follow-up article; the complainant may be invited to write a letter for publication; or, in some cases, no action is taken, because the complaint has been shown to be unfounded.

Among the range of complaints we receive at this office are errors of fact, misuse and misspelling of words (a major source of irritation to readers), accusations of bias or lack of balance, the graphic nature of some photographs. But by far the most common complaint comes from letter-writers who have not succeeded in getting into print. And the answer is almost always the same: the number of letters we receive far exceeds the space available in the newspaper.

Even before the coming of email, only about 10 per cent of letters could be published. Today, the volume has increased so dramatically that the odds of having a letter published have lengthened considerably. Recently, the Letters Editor has been publishing some hints for maximising the chances of getting into print and these appear regularly on the Letters page.

Other ways to make your views known include daily polls on topical issues in our online edition at http://www.ireland.com/ newspaper/ Click on Breaking News and the poll is in the top section on the left side of the screen.

From today, a new voicemail service is available for those who wish to record a short comment on a topical issue, telephone call-save 1850 46 36 36, (0800 039 0303 from Northern Ireland). We hope to publish a summary of these comments regularly on the letters page.

Further information on the Readers' Representative's Office is available in the expanded About Us section of www.ireland.com The site now also includes a message for readers from the Editor, an extract from the Memorandum of Association of the Irish Times Trust, a short history of the newspaper and statistics on circulation.

Complaints and requests for corrections should be addressed to the Readers' Representative's Office, 10-15 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2; telephone 01 675 8000; fax 01 671 9407; e-mail readersrep@irishtimes.ie