Minister of State O’Donovan to participate in discussion on digital government services

Minister of State with responsibility for Public Procurement, Open Government and eGovernment, Patrick O’Donovan T.D., will today participates in a discussion on digital government with members of the public in Dublin, to gather information from the public on their use of, enthusiasm for and access to online government services.

This discussion is one of several that will be held to capture the opinions of people at different life stages and their experiences in interacting with a range of government services. The overall goal of these sessions is to get insight and understanding into what people like about digital government services, what they feel Government could do better, things they would like to see that may not yet be available, and any concerns and potential barriers.

These sessions will provide members of the public with an opportunity to have a direct input into matters which affect them and their communities. They will also allow the Minister to deliver on his commitment in the eGovernment Strategy 2017-2020; to explore ideas and suggestions from citizens so that Ireland can remain a leader for eGovernment.

Speaking at today’s session, Minister O’Donovan said: ‘I am very pleased to be launching such a detailed exercise to gather the views of members of the public. It is essential that the Public Service continues to develop digital services to meet the needs and expectations of our people; in other words our services should be consistently easy and convenient to use. If we are going to claim that our digital government services are user-centred then it is essential to ask the citizens themselves and let them input into our future plans and designs.’

He went on to say: “This research on our citizens’ experiences of using digital services is a key step to improving our delivery of Government services. Digitalisation of services is critical in order to meet people’s expectations of more immediate and responsive engagement with government and in turn, will drive better policies and enhance services.”

This discussion is part of the foundation for a significant research exercise and it will help identify government services to be prioritised for digitalisation, as well as online services that could be enhanced or improved.