Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 June 2004
405 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children 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. [17564/04]
View answerThe main service provided directly to members of the public by my Department is the provision of life event — births, deaths and marriages — certificates by the General Register Office. Significant computerisation has taken place regarding that process over the last few years in conjunction with the Department of Social and Family Affairs, particularly with the launch of the civil registration IT system in 2003.
The new civil registration IT system is currently being rolled out to registration offices throughout the country. The Civil Registration Act 2004, which was enacted in February 2004, provides the legislative basis for all remaining aspects of the modernised civil registration service. The new electronic civil registration service provides information systems, procedures to facilitate the electronic registration of vital events including births, stillbirths, deaths and marriages, and the electronic production of certificates. Historic records held by the General Register Office and the associated indices have, as part of the overall modernisation programme, been converted to an electronic format in a separate project in Roscommon. That allows certificates to be obtained at offices throughout the country rather than in the registration district where the event occurred or the General Register Office as heretofore. Following roll-out of the system, a person will also be able to register a birth, death or marriage at any registrar's office.
The implementation of a modern civil registration service is at the heart of providing better public services to citizens through the Government's modernisation programme. It is a key building block underpinning the integration of public service delivery and e-government objectives of providing more convenient access to services.
The General Register Office is working with Reach, the public service broker, towards the introduction of on-line applications for certificates of entries in the registers of births, deaths and marriages, which will be made available when Reach launches the next phase of development of reachservices.ie in the autumn.
In the meantime, application forms for certificates may be downloaded from the General Register Office website, www.groireland.ie. In addition, applications may be faxed to the General Register Office, and payment may be made by credit card. It is intended to launch the first stage of the public services broker at the end of this month, allowing for access to downloadable application forms for life event certificates.
In addition, I have recently announced the launch of a project to provide for a health portal, to be known as healthireland.ie, the Irish health services on-line facility, which will allow for the development of a single standardised delivery mechanism for information and services in the context of the health reform programme. That is being done in full consultation with reachservices.ie to ensure a standardised approach to on-line services. The new service will be launched later in the year.
