Ireland Ranked First In European IT Survey

The European Commission has ranked Ireland number one in a new survey examining the use of the Internet by EU Governments and public services.

The 9th European Commission eGovernment Benchmarking exercise, titled “Digitising Public Services in Europe: Putting ambition into action” showed Ireland is now ranked first in Europe for the provision and sophistication of online services to businesses and citizens, for the provision of eProcurement services, and for the integration of services as “life events”.

The European Commission conducted benchmarks of eGovernment since 2000 and over 32 countries comprising the EU 27, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Croatia and Turkey, and is generally considered one of the most comprehensive global studies.

In early benchmarking exercises, Ireland scored well but in 2007 Ireland slipped to a ranking of 17th.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan welcomed the survey findings saying that eGovernment was a priority under the National Recovery Plan.

"We view this very much as a starting point. As part of the Croke Park Agreement we have set out a vision for an increasingly integrated Public service which is leaner and more effective, the eGovernment strategy is a key element of this Transforming Public Service Programme and the report today shows the Government’s actions are working.

"There will be a greater focus on integrating the back-end systems of public bodies, on the use of shared ICT approaches and cloud computing, on publishing public service data, on implementing measures to secure greater take-up of online and digital services and applications, and on providing online facilities for increased collaboration and feedback with customer."

While Ireland was ranked in the top four in the early benchmarks, it slipped to a ranking of 17th in 2007. The Government introduced a range of new measures in 2008 to renew focus on eGovernment and approved a new eGovernment Strategy in 2009.

(DW/GK)