From Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform
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The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath, and the Minister of State for eGovernment, Ossian Smyth, today (22 July 2022) launched a public consultation to gather views from individual users of public services.
This fulfils a commitment in Connecting Government 2030, the Digital and ICT Strategy for Ireland’s Public Service, which Minister McGrath and Minister of State Smyth introduced earlier this year. Rather than implementing assumptions made by those providing public services, government wants to consult with individual users of public services, to better understand their wants and preferences for digital public services.
Speaking at the launch of the consultation, Minister McGrath said:
“I am delighted, with the launch of this public consultation, to give individual members of the public the opportunity to have their say in how we deliver government services, online or otherwise.
“We are interested in three things: Do you have ideas for improving existing public services? Are there reasons you do not use digital public services? Are there services you think should be available online?”
An ambition of Connecting Government 2030 is for Ireland to be one of the leading countries in Europe at providing digital services. The views gathered as part of this public consultation will be important in helping government achieve that ambition. This consultation also reflects the overall strategy of reform and innovation, which the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is pursuing.
Minister of State Smyth added:
“This is a great opportunity for anyone to inform and set the government’s digital priorities over the next 7 years."
A link to the consultation is available on our website and will be open until the end of September.
Connecting Government 2030: A Digital and ICT Strategy for Ireland’s Public Service was published in March 2022. The overall aim of the strategy is to create world-leading digital government services. This is also in line with the ambition of the Civil Service Renewal 2030 strategy.
At the same time, the off-line experience will be improved for those who are unable to access services digitally. We are engaging with representative organisations to ensure we get views from people who may not be able to participate online.