10. eGovernment activity

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% of people who have used the internet in the last 3 months for interaction with public authorities. Source: EuroStat 2005

Checking out your neighbour’s planning application. Viewing your competitor’s audited accounts. Applying for a driving test. Avoiding the queues at the motor tax office.

Online is making a difference to how we access government services. That difference will accelerate once more services, such as online access to PAYE records come on stream this year and next.

Ireland is still behind other countries in the eGovernment stakes, according to two studies. Both, coincidentally, show Ireland at No. 13 of 22 countries surveyed.

The first is a pan-European comparison of the proportion of people who make contact with government departments electronically. Top of the pile in that survey was Iceland, which scored 55 against Ireland’s 18.

The second – the much-quoted Accenture eGovernment study – shows our relative “maturity” in eGovernment as average.

That term means integrated eGovernment services. The top performer is Canada which gets a score of 68 compared with Ireland’s 46.

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