Irish Government portal - Gov.ie

MyGovID allows the public and businesses to authenticate themselves through an identification process and will use the information they have already provided to save them the inconvenience of repeated re-keying in the future.

@Photo from Pixabay.

Summary 

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has complemented the work of individual Public Bodies by maintaining the www.gov.ie portal. This portal provides easy access to more than 430 online information and transactional services. This new Digital Service Gateway, or Portal is launched in 2017 which enable the public and businesses to easily find and access online public services, to register for transactions as well as targeted information and to ultimately be able to provide information to the Government on a ‘once only’ basis, using the existing MyGovID facility. 
MyGovID allows public and businesses to authenticate themselves through an identification process and will use the information they have already provided to save them the inconvenience of repeated re-keying in the future. The Gateway enables the user to find services quite easily and it is closely tied into the MyGovID service.

ENABLING ASSETS OR COMPONENTS

Political commitment

Data-Sharing and Governance (Policy paper)

In October 2013, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform brought a ‘Memorandum to Government’, setting out a series of actions to improve data sharing in the public service. Chief among these was the development of the Heads of a Data-Sharing and Governance Bill. 

On 1 August 2014, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform published a policy paper entitled, ‘Data Sharing and Governance: Policy Proposals’, which set out key elements of proposed legislation. Interested parties were invited to make submissions responding to the policy proposals. 

The Department received many constructive submissions, which are published below. The submissions received have contributed significantly to the development of policy on Data-Sharing, and the Department is very grateful to the respondents for their contributions to date.

On 24 November 2014, a public information event was held to discuss the outcomes of the consultation. The event was addressed by Robert Watt, Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform; Helen Dixon, Data Protection Commissioner; and Daragh O’Brien of Castlebridge Associates. 

This event allowed for useful discussion of the main policy issues from different perspectives. Having considered the submissions received, the Department prepared a draft General Scheme of the Data-Sharing and Governance Bill which was submitted to Government for approval to commence drafting of the Bill.

In July 2015, the Government approved the drafting of the Data-Sharing and Governance Bill 2015, along the lines of the General Scheme, subject to such drafting or technical amendments as may be agreed between the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and the Attorney General.

Legal interoperability
Electronic Commerce Act (2000), http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2000/act/27/enacted/en/html

The Electronic Commerce Act 2000, which became law on 20 September 2000, implements the EU Directive on a Community framework for electronic signatures (1999/93/EC). The Act provides (with some exceptions) for the legal recognition of electronic signatures, electronic writing, and electronic contracts. It authorises the use of encryption and sets the rights and obligations of Certification Service Providers (CSPs).

Organizational commitment
Freedom of Information Act (2014), http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2014/act/30/enacted/en/html

A new Freedom of Information Act came into force on 14 October 2014. It provides for the commitments in relation to freedom of information contained in the Programme for Government by removing the main substantive restrictions in access to official information introduced in 2003, extending FOI to all public bodies unless specifically exempt in whole or in part and providing a framework for the extension of FOI to non-public bodies in receipt of significant funding from the Exchequer. The legislation also provided an opportunity for a necessary consolidation modernisation and updating of the legislation. The Freedom of Information Acts 1997 and 2003 are repealed under the new Act.

Data protection and privacy
Data Protection Strategy 2014 - 2016, https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/inline-files/eGovernemnt_in_Ireland_March_2017_v2_00.pdf

The mission of the strategy is to protect the individual’s right to data privacy by enabling people to know, and to exercise control over, how their personal information is used, in accordance with the Data Protection Acts and related legislation.

Data Protection (Amendment) Act (2003), https://www.dataprotection.ie/documents/legal/act2003.pdf
------------
The Data Protection Act of 1988 was amended in 2003 to ensure full compliance with the EU Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC). The aim of the Directive is to establish common standards of data protection across Member States in order to protect personal privacy and to ensure the smooth operation of the internal market, while ensuring adequate levels of data protection in countries outside the European Economic Area to facilitate and encourage international trade (Department of Justice and Law Reform). The Data Protection Commissioner oversees and enforces the Act.

Socio-cultural influence factors
This portal provides easy access to more than 430 online information and transactional services.
The portal, enable the public and businesses to easily find and access online public services, to register for transactions as well as targeted information and to ultimately be able to provide information to the Government on a ‘once only’ basis, using the existing MyGovID facility.
This Gateway will tie in with the European model for the purposes of cross-border eGovernment. It will also eventually serve as a portal for GDPR inquiries.

Data handling / data exchange

Type of data sharing

Actual data

Data handler

Architecture

This portal provides easy access to more than 430 online information and transactional services.

Source: https://scoop4c.eu/cases/irish-government-portal-govie

Disclaimer: Please note that this article is a result of the SCOOP4C Pilot Project, not an application of a CEF Building Block.

Find out more

Architecture
This portal provides easy access to more than 430 online information and transactional services.