Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

When I spoke to the committee last week, I indicated that I was not fixated on numbers. Numbers were an instrument we had to employ to bring down costs. It is happening across every sector of the economy. People are not providing services in the same way. If one checks in with an airline, one does not normally do so in a queue with an array of people checking you in. One does so online or at a terminal at the airport. We are now providing more than 400 public services online and will greatly increase that number. The public service card is being rolled out this year. A total of 500,000 were offered last year and an additional 900,000 will be issued this year to make it much simpler and easier for citizens to access State services. That will reduce the necessity of having a huge number of people processing material that will be done electronically. That will allow us to do what I have described as having a reform dividend. We are not simply going to bank all the savings. We will re-invest a portion of them in better front-line services.

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