Vol. 561 No. 4
252 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Finance the amount of funding which was allocated to the Information Society of Ireland for its use to fund information technology projects throughout the country; if the fund is now depleted; the number of projects funded; the name and location of each project; his views on whether the process was or is a successful one; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4291/03]
Overall Government policy on the information society was initially set out in the report "Implementing the Information Society in Ireland: An Action Plan" published by the Department of the Taoiseach in January 1999. A new Action Plan entitled "New Connections" was approved by Government in March 2002 covering the three-year period from 2003 to 2005. In addition to e-government and e-business, the new action plan identifies opportunities in the areas of lifelong learning and e-inclusion, which strives to bridge the digital divide in addressing issues of disadvantage and exclusion.
In response to the first action plan, my Department established a dedicated funding mechanism in 2000, the Information Society Fund, designed to support the implementation of e-government and e-business flagship projects identified in the action plan and to encourage Departments and bodies under their aegis, to respond to the information society agenda. An overall amount of €138.7 million was allocated under the fund over the period from 2000 to 2002. While consideration is currently being given to the size and distribution of funding over the period of the new action plan from 2003 to 2005, an overall amount of €42.9 million has been included in the Abridged Estimates Volume 2003 for information society projects.
An evaluation team chaired by my Department and including representatives from the information society policy development unit of the Department of the Taoiseach approves projects under the fund. A total of 135 programmes and projects at an overall cost of €118.6 million have been approved for funding since the introduction of the fund in 2000.
The majority of projects approved under the fund relate to e-government services some of which are already available to the general public and to businesses on the Internet. Examples of these services include: the Revenue on-line service, ROS, providing for the electronic filing of tax returns; on-line driving test application system; the Civil Service and Local Appointments Commission's on-line recruitment service; the Land Registry on-line electronic search service for property folios; on-line access to public library catalogues; an e-procurement website advertising all public contracts and providing for the downloading of tender documents; OASIS, providing information for citizens based on life-events; BASIS, providing information for businesses based on business-episodes.
The e-government projects under development include: e-cabinet, designed to support the Government process; e-legislation, providing a collaborative environment for bill drafting; on-line driving licence application; on-line motor tax renewal; on-line services for farmers coordinated by Teagasc; on-line exploration and mining licence application.
The introduction of e-government services will accelerate with the introduction of the public services broker planned for mid-2003 and which is also being supported by the information society fund. The public services broker is being implemented by the Reach agency and will provide a single electronic gateway to Government services and public information.
