Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the House knows, the legislation is key to delivering on the public service reform commitments, expanding digital delivery of services and making greater use of data. It also provides for stronger governance and transparency by public service bodies in the way they share and manage data. The Bill was initiated in the Seanad and we had a very useful and constructive debate in the course of its passage through the House, to which I referred in the Dáil. I took a lot of consideration of the debate in the Seanad and I look forward to the continuation of that today.

The first group of amendments is in respect of the Long Title of the Bill, the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 and the National Shared Services Office Act 2017. Amendments Nos. 1 and 24 relate to the inclusion of a new section, section 74, which has the effect of amending the Taxes Consolidation Act to allow other public bodies to accept the Revenue online service digital signature when providing services to the public. These signatures are used extensively by businesses for the filing and payment of taxes and duties, and these amendments should allow for a greater number of transactions between businesses and public bodies to be carried out online.

Amendments Nos. 2 and 25 provide for a technical amendment to the National Shared Services Office Act 2017 to correct an error in that Act with the Irish translation of the name of the office. Amendment No. 2 also adds a reference to the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 2011 to the Long Title of the Bill to reflect that this Act is amended by section 73 of the Bill.

Senator Paddy Burke will be bringing a further amendment to section 74, which I hope the Seanad is in a position to support.