Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 June 2004
601 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if all public services provided by her 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 she will make a statement or explanation in respect of each service not yet so provided. [17569/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe electronic delivery of services through a single point of contact is being progressed through the framework of the public services broker and the REACH agency, which reports to my Department.
It is intended to launch the first stage of the public services broker at the end of this month. This website, www.reachservices.ie, is being designed to act as a single point of access to a range of services offered by the Irish public service. Initially it will provide access in the form of links to forms or on-line services provided on other websites. The website will provide access to information and application forms for up to 900 services, including services of the Department of Social and Family Affairs, at time of launch. Ultimately www.reachservices.ie will be expanded until it provides a comprehensive index to the full range of publicly provided services in Ireland.
My Department has a substantial programme of work underway to develop and prioritise services which will be suitable for early on-line delivery via the public service broker. Further services will be developed in line with REACH development plans for 2005 and later years.
Substantial progress has already been made in exploiting the benefits of e-enablement of services. An example of this is the inter-agency messaging system, IAMS, between agencies such as the general registrar's office, GRO, my Department and the central statistic's office. One practical effect of this system is the automatic notification of an electronically-registered birth to my Department making it possible to change child benefit payments without the parents having to repeat basic information, or provide copies of a birth certificate. This has improved the delivery of child benefit to customers. Families in receipt of child benefit can now expect to receive notification of increased payment within days of electronic registration of the birth of a second or subsequent child, without any need to complete an application form.
The IAMS facility is being further developed to facilitate exchange of business documents and data among a wider range of Departments and agencies.
Other key projects include the recently completed redesign of my Department's website, www.welfare.ie and the development of proposals in relation to a framework for public service cards based on the personal public service number which would provide access for customers to a range of public services. The Department is working with REACH in developing facilities for registration and authentication of customer identity, address validation, improved on-line application forms and an e-payments facility.
I am arranging for more detailed information to be put together on the range of eGovernment activities being progressed and which my Department is involved with and this will be forwarded to the Deputy.
