Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

It is not that difficult. Such a programme could be easily introduced. One of the interns in one of our offices could probably design that programme.

The same principle applies to planning observations. Living in north Dublin in a rapidly developing constituency, planning is my number one local issue. I have to go through the rigamarole on every single occasion of printing a letter to send to the authority. I do everything by e-mail. The only time I have to print a letter is when I need to submit a planning observation and fill in a cheque for the fee. That procedure belongs to a different century. I should be able to e-mail the submission and pay the fee by credit card or by account, but I cannot. There is no good reason that is the case. That is the procedure in place on the small level of the process. However, on the bigger level, there is no reason one cannot submit planning applications on-line. On Fingal County Council website one can examine in detail all planning applications, drawings, photo montages and check every single aspect of that planning application, but an application cannot be submitted on-line. An applicant has to print a hard copy of an application, complete it and submit it to the council and then give in a disc with the details on it. These practices would make one demented. In many ways local authorities are introducing de facto e-Government in the absence of the legislative framework to do it de jure. That is a real shame. We must begin to reflect modern lifestyles in that regard.

I travel a lot overseas and when I visit countries such as Denmark, Norway, Singapore and the Netherlands, I feel like I am in a modern country but when I come back to Ireland, I do not feel like I am in a modern country anymore. I feel I am in a country that wanted to be modern ten years ago or was modern then but which has become very complacent. Our wealth and the fact that we had a reasonably good economy until recently has meant that we allowed ourselves to fall behind and become very arrogant.

As a country, we should be aiming to be number one again. We should be aiming to be ahead of the curve and not just at the EU average. We should aspire to be the most competitive country in the world, the country that spends the most on information technology and research and development and to be the world leader. That is why this motion is important. We want Ireland to be a technology hub, a silicone island, and that means putting to the fore Government policy issues such as e-Government, e-commerce, the transition to e-payments, the roll-out of fibre optics and investment in information technology at all levels of education, not just in the computer rooms in schools. That is why I am glad to support this motion and commend it to the House.

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