Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the constructive suggestion she set out in this topical issue. The Minister, Deputy Howlin, and all of us in the Government are committed to enhance public consultation. She is suggesting that we bring this all together in one website, making sure that people can consult with the Government in a variety of ways but through one particular avenue. The Minister has an open view on whether or not that would succeed.

Public consultations are a common - and extremely important - feature of public policy development. We want to ensure that as many stakeholders as possible are able to participate in consultations to allow us to take account of the widest possible range of views from citizens and businesses across Ireland. Indeed, in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, we are currently engaged in an extremely important consultation on strengthening Civil Service accountability and performance. Submissions in response to this consultation are due no later than 31 March 2014. All consultations now already have an online element, whether through e-mail or more sophisticated technology. The Oireachtas public petitions system, which allows for online submission of petitions to Parliament, is a good example of progress made in recent times.

The Public Service e-Government Strategy 2012-2015 includes a section on ensuring that e-Government is designed around real needs. The strategy notes that social networking and collaborative tools can help citizens and businesses to contribute and gain insights into the development and improvement of public service delivery. It also notes the requirement in the programme for Government for greater collaboration with citizens to ensure services are designed to meet their needs. The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, which co-ordinates and reports on progress in implementing the e-Government strategy, is working with Departments and offices to achieve this priority goal.

As part of this work, the OGCIO is considering international experience, with interesting examples of online consultations. These include Australia, based on links to agency websites where discussion or consultation papers are published, as well as the UK, where petitions are created online via a single website - the Deputy's proposal - and assigned to departments for consideration. We are looking at international best practice and will consider how we can improve the system in Ireland. However, whatever solution is found must respect the extremely valuable inputs we receive through the chosen format of the citizen or business, and these inputs must not be stifled through the introduction of rigid online facilities.

I think the Deputy's proposal is a useful idea which is in keeping with the Government agenda on e-Government. I understand the Minister has already asked the OGCIO to include this proposal in its research and planning activities with a view to production of a pilot site over the coming months. The House and the Deputy will be informed of progress we are making on the pilot.

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