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Open Government in Ireland
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Round Table members have been meeting and working together to progress Ireland’s 3rd National Action Plan.
Details of meetings are available here.
Open government is a culture of governance that promotes the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholder participation in support of democracy and inclusive growth.
Complex policy issues cannot be solved by Government alone. When citizens are engaged in public policy making it leads to more informed decisions. Policies and services can then better respond to people’s needs. How the public might respond to policies and to new or reformed services will be better understood. Citizens and service users can better understand the reasons behind some decisions and have more confidence that things are moving in the right direction.
The principles and values of open government are:
Complex policy issues cannot be solved by Government alone. When citizens are engaged in public policy making it leads to more informed decisions. Policies and services can then better respond to people’s needs. How the public might respond to policies and to new or reformed services will be better understood. Citizens and service users can better understand the reasons behind some decisions and have more confidence that things are moving in the right direction.
The Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multilateral initiative currently comprising 79 countries that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. Member countries sign the OGP declaration and participate in its processes to advance the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability, and stakeholder participation.
Ireland became a full member of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in July 2014 when the Government submitted Ireland’s first Open Government National Action Plan 2014-2016 (developed in tandem with civil society). A second Open Government National Action Plan covering the period 2016-2018 was also approved and submitted. During 2019, an up-dated process was prepared for co-creating Ireland’s third National Action Plan in consultation with the Open Government Association Ireland (OGAI), which is a semi-formal network of individuals with a shared interest in the Open Government Partnership in Ireland.
In 2019, the Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) researcher summarised his report published the end of term report for Ireland’s second action plan as follows;
“At the end of Ireland’s second action plan cycle, a majority of its commitments were completed or achieved substantial progress. Moving forward, once the third action plan is developed, priority must be given to establish a permanent group to oversee the plan’s implementation, something expected since 2014, which has yet to come to fruition.”
The Programme for Government (2020) has a commitment to
“continue and re-invigorate participation by the public sector in Open Government Partnership”.
During 2021, Ireland established a permanent multi-stakeholder forum, called the Open Government Round Table, of Civil Society and Public Sector members, to work together to monitor and co-create the third national action plan
Details of the ongoing work of the Round Table are available here.
[Closed]October 2021: Public call for expressions of interest to join the Open Government Round Table
[Closed]October 2021: Public call for submissions for the next and future Open Government National Action Plans. Submissions received in response to the public call are available here .
[Closed] – October 2021: Public call to vote for Ireland in the Open Government Partnership impact award.
Our entry – Ireland’s Citizens’ Assembly and our deliberative democracy journey:
Ireland is proud of the momentous changes that deliberative democracy has achieved in our society, including through the Citizens’ Assembly. Proposals put forward by deliberative democracy exercises have had an impact: advancing marriage equality as recommended by the Convention on the Constitution in 2013, and replacing the Eighth Amendment, which concerns abortion. This is the impact that can arise when the citizen is placed at the heart of important legal and policy issues facing Irish society.
Top winners in each region will be recognised at the online Open Government Partnership Global Summit in 15-17 December 2021.
Currently in Ireland there is considerable relevant policy work in legislative reform (i.e. transparency and public accountability); progressing a national strategy to support the community and voluntary sector (including civic participation) and much more informed by the Programme for Government and various national strategies.
Ireland’s 3rd Open Government National Action Plan
Ireland’s 3rd Open Government National Action Plan (2021-2023) was amended and finalised by the Round Table through co-development of additional commitments informed by the public call for submissions. Further details on the submissions receieved are available in Round Table meeting documentation (2nd meeting) here.
The amended National Plan was brough to Government on 5 July 2022 and subsequently submitted to OGP.
Ireland emerged from the procedural review process due to not submitting a new action plan for two consecutive cycles (2018-2020 and 2020-2021) on 10th February 2022. Further details are available here.
Ireland’s second Open Government National Action Plan
Ireland’s second Open Government National Action Plan (2016-2018) aimed to improve policy making and the delivery of services, further strengthen our systems of governance and accountability and prevent corruption. It set out commitments across four themes:
Ireland’s first Open Government National Action Plan
Ireland’s first Open Government National Action Plan (2014-2016) promoted citizen participation in policy making, strengthened governance and accountability and advanced the Government’s Open Data strategy. Its major achievements included legislation to regulate lobbying, protect whistleblowers and reform of the Freedom of Information and ethics regimes.
Further details are available on Open Government National Action Plans and Independent Review Mechanism .
In May 2022, Ireland’s Open Government Partnership Round Table agreed to an amended National Action Plan for 2021-2023. This is now being published for public information as part of the consultation cycle. A copy of the plan is available here:
The amended National Action Plan was submitted to the OGP International body in July 2022.
To join the mailing list for Open Government updates, please send an email to:
Name: Ailís Henry
Email: IrelandOpenGovernment@per.gov.ie and cc Ailis.Henry@per.gov.ie
Phone: +353 1 6045184
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