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Thomas B Riley, executive director of the UK-based Commonwealth Centre for Electronic Governance think-tank, told ElectricNews.net that Ireland has been doing "quite well" in introducing e-government services and was one of the leading countries in this area.
"Ireland has been helped by the fact that as a small nation it doesn't have the same level of implementation problems that countries such as the US and Canada would have. However, it has made some real advances that other nations have not," he commented.
In particular, Riley praised the Reach and Oasis e-government services for delivering what people are looking from such initiatives. "They make it easier for the public to interact with a range of departments and agencies without having to visit 10 different Web sites," he said commented Riley.
Reach is the organisation co-ordinating the Irish government's strategy of integrating the internal systems of Ireland's public services and making them available on-line, and Oasis (On-line Access to Services, Information and Support) is an information resource on public services.
Riley, who was one of the main speakers at the SAP Ireland eGovernment Symposium held in Dublin on Tuesday, said that Ireland should also be complimented for recognising that not all of its citizens are on-line. "They have established multiple access channels for these services, which is necessary because most people are still operating offline," he said.
His comments echoed a recent survey by the European Commission that found that Ireland has the most comprehensive and widely-used on-line government services in Europe. For instance, the Revenue Commissioners' on-line tax service, which is used by around 2,000 businesses, scored maximum points in the Commission's benchmarking study.
However, Riley noted that all governments still have a lot of work to do and issues to overcome before e-government services become widespread. "There are very few e-government services available from national or local governments at the moment and it will probably take another five to 10 years before they are widely available. This is because of the many technology implementation issues involved and the lengthy decision making processes present at all levels in government organisations."
Riley also warned that take-up of e-government in Europe will be severely hampered unless cheaper Internet access is made more readily available.
"This is a major issue because people are not going to use e-government services on a frequent basis if they know it is going to cost them every time they have to visit a Web site. It is crucial, therefore, that the EU faces the issue of de-regulation of the telecoms market head on and makes a major push for the introduction of low-cost or flat-rate Internet access."
Riley's comments concur with research published earlier this month from a broad-ranging report by Harvard's Center for International Development, examining the worldwide take-up of information and communications technologies. The Global Information Technology Report also cited telecommunications liberalisation as a pre-requisite for take-up of technologies.
The Commonwealth Centre for Electronic Governance is a think-tank operating under the auspices of an e-Goverance program of the Commonwealth Secretariat in the UK. Its primary mission is help governments and organisation within the Commonwealth and beyond implement e-government and e-democracy systems.
The centre can be found at http://www.electronicgov.net.
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