PRESS RELEASE

9 NOVEMBER 2007

The Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas has welcomed the independent report on the first ever eConsultation process carried out in relation to legislation in Ireland.

The Universities eConsultation Research Group (ECRG) found that the process, in relation to the draft Heads of the proposed Broadcasting Bill, had improved the transparency of the workings of parliament, was efficient and had facilitated public participation.

On the negative side, it found that the technical design of the web site used should be improved, the timetable for the process was rushed and the technical language used in the draft Bill made it hard to follow.

The ECRG’s findings followed its evaluation of the Pilot eConsultation on the draft Heads of the proposed Broadcasting Bill conducted by the Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources during the latter stages of the 29th Dáíl. The Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas has decided to publish the report by placing it on the websites www.oireachtas.ie and eConsultation.ie

The pilot project, although experimental, aimed to revolutionise the manner in which Parliament, Government and the citizen interact. It was intended to be a genuine consultation that would test the readiness of Parliament and the Joint Committee in particular to work more closely with the general public using new technologies and interactive communication. It was also designed to facilitate a wide range of groups and individuals to contribute to the work of the Joint Committee by having efficient, genuine and transparent dialogue between them.

The process was innovative in that it enabled engagement by the public and interested parties at an early stage in the decision making process. The use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) was beneficial to the workings of the Committee in considering the draft heads and the various submissions.

The Office is pleased that the ECRG was able to point to many successes in the project but notes that there were also a number of challenges and barriers. The successes include -

• It improved transparency in the workings of Parliament. The public got a sense that there was something going on that would affect them.
• It was efficient. A large number of submissions from interest groups and members of the public were received in an ordered and efficient manner, and were in a format that allowed them to be evaluated quickly and to have a significant impact on the Hearings held by the Committee.
• It facilitated public participation and attracted some members of the public who normally would not engage in a consultation of this sort.
• The design of the submissions site and the subsequent Hearings facilitated interest groups and individuals to engage in a public and novel way on a wide range of issues.
• The pilot website was not optimal but it functioned. More were satisfied than dissatisfied with the submissions site and discussion forum.

The challenges and barriers include –

• The digital divide: Respondents were predominantly male and that the vast majority of respondents to the surveys conducted were highly educated.
• Technical design: The pilot site had not been optimised for usability, the submissions site was complex, and one third were not satisfied with the discussion site and found it hard to locate information on it.
• Poor coordination and a rushed timetable.
• The technical nature of the language of the Draft Broadcasting Bill made it difficult to follow.
• The co-ordination of the eConsultation process was adversely affected by the timetable set at the end of the lifetime of the parliament.
• Lack of awareness despite the media advertisements.
• Workplace and organisational inflexibility.

The Office intends over the coming months to examine in greater detail all the issues arising from the report, particularly in relation to technical design and usability of particular tools and advertising/publicity.

Further, there is a need for the Office to engage with and hear the views of stakeholders, customers and those who partook in the pilot with a view to establishing the improvements required to (a) the conduct of the exercise and (b) the technology supporting it if eConsultation is to be considered as an attractive option in relation to how parliament interacts with the public and conducts its business. Accordingly, the Office has decided to establish a review group to examine all these issues, taking account in particular of the evaluation and recommendations made by the authors, and to bring forward recommendations as to whether eConsultation should become a more permanent feature of parliament’s engagement with the public.

Finally, the Office would like to thank the authors of the report for the work undertaken in evaluating this pilot project and it considers that publication of their report will contribute positively to the debate generally in relation to eConsultation.

ENDS /

For further Information please contact:

Public Relations Office Tel 01- 618 3066 / 3166

ECRG Evaluation of the Houses of the Oireachtas Pilot e-Consultation for the Proposed Broadcasting Bill