Minister Donohoe welcomes Ireland’s progression to top 5 Open Data trendsetters in Europe
From Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform
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From Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform
Published on
Last updated on
The Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, Paschal Donohoe, today (16 January) announced that Ireland has placed in the top 5 performers in 2024, out of 34 countries, in the EU Open Data Maturity Assessment rankings. Ireland’s position has improved by four places since the 2023 rankings and the country now sits alongside France, Ukraine, Poland and Slovakia in the top ‘trendsetter’ group for making public sector information available and stimulating its reuse to drive innovation and public service transformation.
The survey is conducted by the Publications Office of the European Union and the Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology which evaluates the progress of European countries in making public sector information available and promoting its reuse. The Open Data Maturity Assessment serves as a benchmark to gain insights into the development achieved in the field of Open Data in Europe. It measures maturity against the four open data dimensions –policy, impact, portal and quality.
Commenting on the report, Minister Donohoe said:
“Ireland’s high score on the Open Data Maturity Assessment ranking, and recognition as a ‘trendsetter’ in this area in Europe, marks a significant commitment to transparency, trust and improved open data policy in Ireland. Ireland scored an outstanding 95% on Open Data Maturity overall, significantly out-performing the European average of 79%.
“Ireland has been a consistent leader in making public data open and accessible. We plan to keep up this standard in 2025 and continue to deliver on our Open Data Strategy 2023-2027. Open Data is important for building trust in Government and for driving innovation and public service transformation.”
In this year’s assessment, the report commended Ireland for its “Open by Default” approach to government data and equally for its recognition of the importance of privacy and data protection within the context of the national open data policy.
Ireland’s Open Data Portal currently provides access to more than 20,000 datasets from more than 150 publishers. It also provides information on the supports available to public service bodies in implementing the Open Data Strategy.
Ireland’s national Open Data Strategy, published in 2023, sets out a pathway for public service bodies to support Ireland’s ambition to create easy access to high quality government data, promoting trust and stimulating innovation. Open data drives scientific and technological innovation and it is central to the delivery of a whole range of vital public services and societal goals.
Better Public Services 2030 lays out the direction for transformation of the public service with a vision for inclusive, high quality and integrated public service provision that meets the needs and improves the lives of the people of Ireland. Open Data is essential for the delivery of Better Public Services and underpins the delivery of the three transformation priorities; Digital and Innovation at Scale; Workforce and Organisation of the Future; Evidence Informed Policy and Services designed for and with our public.
The 2024 open data maturity (ODM) assessment evaluated the maturity of countries in the field of open data. In particular, the assessment measured the progress of European countries in making public sector information available and stimulating its reuse, in line with the open data directive (Directive (EU) 2019/1024).
A total of 34 countries participated in this 10th consecutive annual assessment, including the 27 EU Member States, 3 European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) and 4 candidate countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Serbia and Ukraine).
The report aims to help readers better understand the level of ODM of the participating countries, to identify areas for improvement and to enable participating countries to learn from one another. As an annual publication, the ODM report also captures the progress made by countries over time, with the 2024 report providing the latest information. Moreover, it gives an overview of best practices implemented across Europe that could be transferred to other national and local contexts.
Ireland is categorised as a trendsetter. This means that the country has an advanced open data policy in place, with substantial coordination of open data activities at all levels of government. The national portal provides a wide range of features and caters to the needs of advanced users and publishers. Open data is taken up and reused for various purposes, creating impact in several domains. Few or no limitations on publication or reuse are observable.