Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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12. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the steps which he is taking to remove paper-based processes from the public service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26110/15]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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Every year Government agencies and Departments waste millions of euro on the maintenance of paper-based systems for those who do not have access to online services. The Revenue Commissioners spent more than €500,000 to establish a paper-based system for returning the local property tax which could have been more efficiently delivered through the local post office network. Every sub-post office has the same information technology system as the GPO in Dublin. Rather than maintaining separate systems, we should be making use of the resources available through this network.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important question. Efforts aimed at reducing the amount of paper-based processes in the public service have been under way for a number of years. As the Deputy will be aware, the Government approved the ICT strategy for the public service earlier in the year. The strategy has five key strategic objectives which set the future direction for innovation and excellence in ICT in public service. In line with the public service reform plan, the focus of the strategy will be to enable delivery of better outcomes for citizens and businesses. The focus of the digital first stream of the strategy is the digitisation of key transactional services and the increased use of ICT to deliver improved efficiency. My Department is working with other public service bodies to identify candidate projects to drive innovation in the delivery of services. One outcome of these initiatives will be to remove paper from the process. In addition, my Department is working with public service bodies to support innovation in the use of data to enable delivery of integrated services and improve decision-making, openness and transparency. These innovations will contribute to reducing paper-based processes in the public administration.

My Department is making major strides towards a paperless working environment. We have introduced a system for electronic processing of parliamentary questions which has cut down on a huge amount of paperwork. This is complemented by an e-submissions system which encompasses submissions to myself and to senior management in the Department. Measures like this will also be foundation blocks for my Department's move to an electronic documents system which will ultimately see the fading away of paper files. This greater use of electronic work processes will also assist policy-making and research and retrieval for both archival and freedom of information purposes.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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I thank the Minister for his reply but I would like to go a step further by requiring every agency of State to introduce procedures to manage paper applications and processing. While it is commendable that his Department is endeavouring to reduce volumes of paper, it will continue to be necessary to maintain a paper-based system. In regard to the example I gave earlier, people were encouraged to submit the local property tax online but the Revenue Commissioners were none the less required to spend €500,000 to put in place a paper-based system to facilitate those who are not technology literate or who do not have access to the Internet. We could abolish paper-based systems across the board if we used the local sub-post office network. The post office information technology system is the same in Cahirciveen and on O'Connell Street in Dublin. By utilising that network we could make significant savings across the public service.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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There is a lot in what the Deputy is saying. We obviously have to have access for all citizens. We cannot simply decide to do it electronically only and have a whole category of citizens excluded from availing of services or even being frightened to go to a public library or post office. The Deputy will have dealt with people in his office, as I have, who are intimidated by receiving a letter with a harp on it, much less the notion that they have to fill in a form online. We have to have much more than a resource base with online services available. We also need to provide training and have local dimensions about which the Deputy talked. The notion of using post offices is not a bad one. The Tánaiste, for example, is developing concepts to use post offices for a range of services. The biggest user of post offices is overwhelmingly the State. More than 80% of the revenue generated in local post offices is from State-based services.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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I am putting this proposal to the Minister because the post office network covers the country and thus is easily accessible. Its staff are the only non-State employees who sign the Official Secrets Act. There is a mechanism for them to assist people in filling in forms and inputting data online. Not only could we save a lot of money, but the other great advantage is that there would be far fewer errors and less fraud involved. As mistakes could be identified more quickly, people would be paid sooner if they were seeking grants or other supports. The system would drive efficiency across the public service. Will the Minister or his officials engage directly with An Post and Mr. Bobby Kerr's working group to see how, in using a pilot scheme initially, this measure could be implemented? A labour-intensive, paper-based system is being used. Let us see if we could get this new system fully operational.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I welcome the work being undertaken by Mr. Bobby Kerr's group which has been helpful to us. We, obviously, have to comply with European law in the procurement of any service.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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I am talking about a pilot scheme.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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There is no point in having a pilot scheme if it will not impact on people. We need to ensure what we do is robust and actually delivers what is intended. During the Irish EU Presidency we passed three new procurement directives to make the procurement of services simpler. They will be transposed into Irish law in the coming year. We are always looking at new delivery systems that would be more efficient and effective in delivering public services. We now have more than 400 services online and do not need a locations for the vast bulk of them because most people can access them from home 24 hours a day. That demonstrates their efficiency. Post offices have an extremely important role to play and are very dependent on State services. The Tánaiste was happy when they won the procurement contract for the provision of social welfare payments. In an open competition, however, one cannot always assume that they will win. We need to map a future for post offices which will not be dependent on always winning any set of contracts.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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As the Deputies who tabled Questions Nos. 13 to 16, inclusive, are not present, we will proceed to Question No. 17 in the name of Deputy Mary Lou McDonald.