Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Examples of this already in operation include the e-Cabinet and the e-Estimates systems, the centralised HR management system for the Civil Service, the Financial Shared Services Centre operated by the Department of Justice and Law Reform in Killarney and the centralised provision of death notifications. Considerable progress has already been made in this area. However, let us be clear about this type of technology and what the precise ambition is, because it is an ambition shared by many Governments worldwide, including those of the US and UK, as well as ourselves. It is to provide a form of technology that is far more secure in terms of the protection of the information embodied in it. This is not of necessary application in the cultural tourism area, although I agree with the Deputy that cultural tourism should be promoted in every possible available outlet.

The other point to be made about this particular technology is that the provision of cloud computing will be a major shift in the provision of computing services and that is the future of ICT in the Irish public service. However, it is an immature market at present with many issues to be developed.

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