David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 435: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the services that are available via the Public Service broker; the future structure and plans for the operation of the project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32136/06]

Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Phase 1 of the basic Public Services Broker (PSB) infrastructure has been deployed and is fully operational. The services which have been deployed and are delivering benefits, include the following. An Inter Agency messaging Service including the Death Event Publication Service which exchanges data relating to life events between the General Register Office, my Department and up to 20 other subscribing agencies. The messaging service has also been deployed between the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Agriculture and Food for exchange of documents relating to exports of agricultural produce. A project is underway to extend the messaging service to exchange documents between agencies in the criminal justice sector. A service wide interoperability framework with associated standards and guidelines and transport adapters. A comprehensive services portal giving information and access to some 1,400 public services. An identity authentication service is being provided to the Revenue On-line PAYE service in association with my Department.

Reach has been operating as a project within my Department since its establishment in 2000. Now that the PSB is operational and services are being delivered, I propose to address the appropriate future structure and operational arrangements. Following an examination of the options in this regard, I intend to bring proposals to Government in this matter.