Digital island: Irish Government plans
Developing Ireland as a ‘digital island’ was cited as a priority by the Irish Government when it came to power in March. agendaNi examines its ICT priorities.
The Republic’s Programme for Government committed to making Ireland a “first-mover” in information technology by making more progress on e- government, moving government services online, and investing in ICT in schools and the healthcare sector.
Currently, citizens can engage with government through the gov.ie website which includes links to the 16 departments, plus eight e-government websites (see box).
At the end of June, Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Brendan Howlin launched an online portal making 300 services available online. These include: social welfare applications, court fine payment, proof of age applications, live Oireachtas debates, birth certificate purchases and access to the 1901 and 1911 censuses.
As part of the new ethos of transparency within government and the comprehensive review of public expenditure, Howlin also launched a databank providing information on every aspect of government expenditure since 1994. Users can create tables, spreadsheets and graphs showing how spending on current, capital, or pay has evolved across government and in individual departments.
The Government will organise existing state supports for cloud computing into a package to promote Ireland as a progressive place for IT investment. However, work must be undertaken to ensure that public sector information stored in the cloud is secure. The Government will not move its information to the public cloud until it irons out concerns over security, reliability, vendor lock-in and saving data outside the jurisdiction. Since 2002, the Irish Government has used ‘government networks’, a countrywide private telecommunications resource used by all public bodies.
A cross-departmental taskforce on cloud computing was established by Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Minister Richard Bruton at the end of June to tackle the above security problems and to review legislation to see what steps need to be taken to ensure a supportive regulatory environment.
Bruton said that while cloud computing held great economic potential for Ireland “it is also crucial that government, as a major user of IT in the economy, take a lead in this area in order to provide opportunities and economies of scale for growing businesses in this sector.”
The taskforce is chaired by Seán Gorman (Secretary General of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation) and includes representatives from the department and its main agencies (IDA, Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland, Forfás), the Data Protection Commissioner’s Office, the Department of Justice and Equality, the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Other representatives including industry will attend taskforce meetings as appropriate.
Bruton has said that cloud computing is at the forefront of the Government’s thinking. The department is engaged in research and conducting trials with a number of major international ICT companies “to determine what works best for public bodies and to develop compelling commercial models for adoption.”
In education, the Government will integrate ICT into teaching and learning across the curriculum. Investment in broadband development will ensure schools have access to fibre-powered broadband and will be paid for by pooling ICT procurement.
More subjects will be taught online and schools will be able to ‘share’ teachers via live web chats.
However, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has said that due to financial constraints he “is not currently in a position to commit additional resources to ICT capital investment.” However, he remains committed to investing in this area “as resources permit.”
The Programme for Government does not outline any specific ICT strategy for the healthcare sector.
e-government sites
www.citizensinformation.ie
www.e-tenders.gov.ie
www.irishstatutebook.ie
www.irisoifigiuil.ie
www.merrionstreet.ie
www.pensionsboard.ie
www.publicjobs.ie
www.revenue.ie
