Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 June 2004
188 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance if all public services provided by his Department that are capable of electronic delivery are available electronically through a single point of contact, as was promised in the joint programme; and if not, if he will make a statement or explanation in respect of each service not yet so provided. [17559/04]
View answerUnder the Government's action plans for the information society, my Department is tasked with providing a public sector procurement portal. This portal, named www.etenders.gov.ie, was launched in March 2001 and revamped in January 2004. It is a single point of contact providing on-line access to all public sector procurement opportunities. In addition the site includes a facility for the on-line creation and submission of tendering notices to the Official Journal of the EU. Ireland is the first EU member state to do this at a national level. A pilot facility for the electronic submission of tenders by suppliers is also being developed with a view to being available to all tenderers before the end of 2004.
The e-estimates project is also listed as a priority for electronic delivery by my Department. As civil servants are the user base for this, it was never envisaged as a service for delivery under the public services broker which will be the single point of contact for services consumed by the general public. Phase 1 of this project is under development. Pending the development of the public services broker as the single point of contact for public services, the relevant information services pertaining to my Department are available at the single on-line location for Irish Government information, www.gov.ie, as well on my Department’s website.
