Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with what the Deputy said. It was good of him to acknowledge the fact that we have managed in recent years to make better use of digital technology in the number of different ways we provide public services. I take his point that it is not working as well as would want in a number of other areas. From my experience of representing a constituency that relies a great deal on the services the Deputy referenced, I am aware we need to make sure we do not get to a point where digital exclusion would overlay all the other forms of exclusion people experience. I do not want to see that happen. As to how we will address that, I made reference to the fact that we are convening a public service leadership forum. The Civil Service group we have comprises representatives of Departments very much involved in running the day to day business of government such as what happens in Cabinet, how we deal with the implementation of the programme for Government and so on. However, the public service leadership group will consist of representatives of Departments and local authorities and senior leadership in the HSE and in An Garda Síochána. I would like to use a body like that one to share best practice on where we are doing well digitally and where we are not doing well and basically to make sure different parts of Government talk to each other about this. That is how we would like to do it. We are doing well in some areas but we can do better in others.