Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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21. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has considered expanding the State's eGovernance capacity by following the Norwegian Altinn model of online service provision (details supplied); if the platform used by the Revenue service at present could be adapted to cover a much wider range of citizen interactions with the State, thereby potentially reducing costs significantly; if any cost benefit analysis has been conducted on this topic; if not, if he will commit to investigating the potential for the State offered by such a system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24518/13]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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My Department's eGovernment Policy Unit is responsible for coordinating the development and implementation of eGovernment policy. The Government's overarching approach to eGovernment is set out in the eGovernment Strategy which is available online (egovstrategy.gov.ie ).

The eGovernment Policy Unit also fulfils an important role researching and investigating international best practices in eGovernment. The Unit is aware of the Norwegian Altinn portal for businesses, as well as one-stop-shop approaches adopted by other countries. Ireland's gov.ie portal received generally positive comment in the student case study provided by the Deputy.

The Revenue Online Services are regularly enhanced to improve the quality of services to citizens and businesses taking account a of number of factors including costs and benefits. Revenue already cooperates with a range of public bodies, including the Motor Tax Office, the Companies Registration Office and the Valuation Office to enhance their service delivery.

In addition, the Public Service CIO Council examines potential improvements to online service delivery. This includes analysis of national and international best practice. The one-stop-shop model is already applied within specific sectors. For example, the Companies Registration Office CORE system is a one-stop-shop for business registration activities. Revenue's online services are considered as best practice internationally.

Easy access to a wide range of information and services is provided via gov.ie and the Citizen's Information Board website.