digital government report
Government CIO Barry Lowry: A digital leader Following the publication of Harnessing Digital: The Digital Ireland Framework, the new national digital strategy, and Connecting Government 2030, the new Public Service digital and ICT strategy, Barry Lowry reflects on his time heading up the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) to date and discusses his continued ambition for Ireland’s digital journey. Remarking on the distance already travelled on Ireland’s digital journey, Lowry emphasises the acceleration which took place during the Covid-19 pandemic. For instance, when the public service embarked upon the journey in 2015, Ireland’s government services portal, gov.ie, did not even exist; by 2020 it had 100 million visits. Likewise, in 2016 there were just over 8,000 verified MyGovID accounts; today, over 1.5 million Irish adults have verified accounts.
88
“Now we have built the foundations for change, we must implement the big changes. Through the new strategy, we have a plan for how we are going to do that,” he observes.
“Big changes” Looking to the consolidation of progress that has been made, Lowry lists two “big changes” the OGCIO will prioritise. Firstly, the delivery of an intuitive, userdriven digital government service whereby 90 per cent of applicable services are consumed online by 2030 and secondly, the launch of a new Life Events Portal. “We define applicable services as those services which the public values most” the Government CIO explains, adding: “Over the coming weeks, we will consult the public on the services that are most important to them and their experience of these services.
“As we head into what is projected to be a financially constrained environment, we are responding to the public’s priorities, rather than pursuing a programme which attempts to change everything.” Building on the success of gov.ie, then, the Life Events Portal is set to include births and deaths as the two primary life events, alongside returning to Ireland from abroad, and opening a business. With births and deaths, there are multiple touchpoints with government, local government, the health authorities, and others. As such, the Life Events Portal is intended to act as a single point of contact to enable individuals to provide
