IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The portal provides links to three different types of sevices:

• Online services: These include Buy a Birth Certificate, Apply for Social Welfare, View 1901 and 1911 Census, Complain to the Ombudsman, Apply to Rural Broadband Scheme and Pay a Court Fine. In order to make it more user-friendly, the listing of services can be limited to those that allow users to apply for, pay for, complain about or just find various services.
• Government websites: These include Government departments, Revenue, merrionstreet.ie, Iris Oifigiúil, Pensions Board, eTenders and publicjobs.ie.
• Citizens Information: This Government website provides information on rights, entitlements and benefits, and currently contains over 1300 documents. These cover the domains of: Birth, Family and Relationships, Consumer Affairs, Death and Bereavement, Education and Training, Employment, Environment, Government in Ireland, Health, Housing, Justice, Money and Tax, Moving Country, Social Welfare, and Travel and Recreation.

Departments want to increase uptake and counteract ‘negative’ media coverage

The Government is to launch a €200,000 radio and online advertising campaign to promote the public services card and to address concerns reported in the media in recent months.

The Department of Public Expenditure and the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer are seeking tenders for a media strategy and creative campaign to encourage uptake of the card, particularly among young people and men of working age.

The Government have suggested 45 ways of improving efficiency, avoiding duplication, saving money, and making online services more attractive.

The eGovernment strategy, which covers 2012 to 2015, encourages greater sharing of data between Government public bodies, electronic delivery of services where appropriate and an increased level of automation to free-up staff currently engaged in front-line work.

The plan also envisages the use of emerging technologies to deliver these services across a range of digital platforms, including mobile apps.

"Supporting Public Service Reform: eGovernment 2012-2015", contains 45 ways of increasing efficiency, avoiding duplication, saving money, and making online services more attractive.

The strategy considers incentives to encourage online use such as lowering fees, priority handling, and later deadlines for online applications.

The Government will spend in excess of €2.2m this year on paper payslips for employees, despite its commitment to secure savings through increased use of the internet.

The figures emerged in responses to Parliamentary Questions submitted by Independent TD Denis Naughten.

Smart Dublin has made its mark on Dublin City Council, says Paul McAuliffe, former lord mayor of Dublin and current Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin North-West.

Take e-scooters, says McAuliffe. When the Department of Transport held a public consultation on the use of e-scooters, the council’s traffic department “put in a really conservative submission without going to any other department on it”, he says.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin overlapped with his cabinet colleague Richard Bruton in South Korea. Mr Howlin was attending a United Nations conference on public service reform and said the Koreans were very interested in what Ireland has achieved in the past three years in this area.

In a speech given to the Public Relations Institute's Annual Conference and published in full on Politics.ie, Howlin seemed to infer that social media was a double-edged sword for spin doctors endeavouring to "manage the message."

It is clear that the speed of platforms like Twitter and how easily politicians can fall afoul of social media seems to have the spin doctors generally in a tizzy - most want to drum up business by appearing to be up with the trends, while others may see it as another burden associated with keeping on top of the 24/7 news machine.

Shared services are centralised activities within a multi-site global corporation. Ireland is already ranked number three in the world in terms of the number of shared service centres (SSCs) operating in a single country with over 140 centres operating here.

The sector currently employs over 35,000 people in foreign-owned companies supported by IDA Ireland, and a growing base of indigenous activity supported by Enterprise Ireland with 4,000 jobs.

The report, which follows from a survey of 38 major multinationals and SMEs employing more than 25,000 people in the IT sector in Ireland, claims there are more than 4,500 immediate vacancies in Ireland’s ICT sector and that these jobs are not being filled because candidates do not have the skills required.

While these positions range from entry level to expert level, many of them require intermediate-level skills that FIT believes can be obtained through six to 24-month long training programmes.

If a person does not consent to private details being held in databases in order to access essential services, there needs to be legislative basis for it, writes Elizabeth Farries.

An Oireachtas committee will be meeting tomorrow regarding concerns surrounding the Public Services Card, including its National Biometric Database (together, the PSC).

The Government's advisory body on trade, science, technology and innovation says changes must be made if the country is to meet demand for skills in this area between now and 2018.

The report also predicts that more than 44,000 job openings in the Information and Communication Technology sector could arise over the next six years here.

The yet to be published eHealth Strategy is also expected to recommend that all patients are assigned an IHI, which will be linked to the new public service cards currently being rolled out by the Department of Social Protection.

Speaking to IMN last week at the World of Health IT conference, the Head of ICT at the Department of Health Mr Kevin Conlon explained that work on the introduction of IHIs was at an advanced stage; however, it would need to be backed by legislation under the new Health Information Bill.

The savings have resulted from a reformed agenda, an extensive programme of shared services, according to a recent County and City Manager’s Association report. Staffing numbers at Laois Co Council have also been reduced by 20% over the last four years.

The college has been chosen to partner ICS Skills to provide internet training to 4,500 people around the country to tackle the large number of the population who are 'digitally excluded'.

The 'Get Ireland Online' programme is part of the Benefit 3 scheme which has awarded €1.88m for 20 training projects run by community and voluntary groups and not-for-profit organisations across Ireland and aims to upskill 40,000 people. As part of this scheme, the College will ensure 200 people are certified with basic IT skills to prevent them from missing out on opportunities most people now take for granted in Ireland.

Over the last 18 months, teachers and students across the country have embraced technology at unprecedented speed. Despite some initial challenges, this experience has given us a glimpse into the potential of the ‘digital classroom’ and how technology can enhance teaching and learning for years to come.

Prior to the pandemic, the importance of ICT (information and communications technologies) in education had been growing on the radar of government and industry with the last Digital Strategy for Schools a step in the right direction for driving technology use in the classroom.

Getting rid of IT vendor lock-in is the main reason for Limerick to move to open source, the head of the city's IT department, Mihai Bilauca, explained on 11 November 2011 at a conference in Zaragoza, Spain. The city in 2009 was confronted with "very high" costs for renewing the licences for the proprietary office and email applications that it was using at that time.

Limerick Community Connect - which exists to bring communities together - is one of only 20 non-profit groups in Ireland selected by Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte to get funding to tackle the ‘digital divide’.

Under the scheme, senior citizens, those with disabilities and the unemployed will be prioritised for computer courses in November

The progress of Limerick’s ‘Smart City’ programme and how it will positively impact the future of all its citizens will be explored this Thursday and Friday.

The Science Foundation Ireland research centre in smart manufacturing, which is hosted at UL’s Park Point complex in Castletroy, will be transformed into a showcase for the innovation surging across Limerick as the European Commission’s ‘Smart Cities’ programme takes hold.