The Public Services Broker is a key underlying mechanism that will serve as a kind of nervous system for many other on-line government services in Ireland. A critical part of Ireland's e-government plans, the launch of the PSB is well over a year behind schedule and its delay is thought to have held up a raft of other ancillary projects.
Hanafin made the comments about the PSB at the launch of an important new report on e-government in Ireland by the Information Society Commission (ISC). The report, entitled "eGovernment -- More than an automation of Government Services," called for a re-think of the nation's e-government strategy. It also painted a picture of what e-government will do for the average citizen.
In general terms, the report recommended that Ireland's e-government strategy should focus not on technology, but on enhancing the way public services are delivered with the need of the citizen paramount. An accompanying video demonstration on CD-ROM shows a system where citizens easily and quickly take care of bureaucratic details associated with "life events," such as buying a car, moving house or starting a new job. In the ISC's vision of e-government, citizens will be able to quickly and easily update multiple government agencies in one easy stroke -- over the phone, in a government office or on the Internet -- on changes in thier lives.
Specifically, the report said that the earlier deadline of putting all government services on-line by 2005 should be revisited in this "climate of budgetary constraints." Priority needs to be given to e-enabling those services that will bring about the greatest impact, the report said.
Other parts of the report said that e-government should bring about streamlining and consolidating of internal government processes though re-engineering common payroll, financial management and human resource management systems. Finally, the report called for more cooperation -- including new funding arrangements -- between government agencies installing systems that cut across many departments.
"We are not talking about anything to do with technology," Minister Hanafin said. "We are talking about modernisation and innovation." She added that the report showed that e-government was more about re-defining democracy and the way people interact with the public sector than it is about technological innovation.
Absent from the briefing was an update on the specifics of Ireland's e-government deployment, including information on what projects had been completed and what had been delayed. In February, Minister Hanafin published an update to the original e-government strategy plan, "New Connections," which among other things said that a whopping 57 of Ireland's 154 e-government projects were delayed.
Speaking with ElectricNews.Net after the briefing, Hanafin said the second update to New Connections would be out "very soon."
Quelle: Electric News, 05.11.2003
