Local Government Digital and ICT Strategy 2030 launched
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From: Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform
- Published on: 10 September 2014
- Last updated on: 26 September 2024
The Local Government Digital and ICT Strategy 2030 was launched in July. The multi-million euro strategy to transform local government online services will see 90% of local authority services available online by 2030 and will radically change how people interact with their county and city councils.
Services such as planning applications, licences, permits, payments, community grants, and motor tax will be available at the touch of a button and accessible via mobile phones with implementation of the plan.
The strategy was developed collaboratively by a group comprised of representatives from local authorities, the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage and the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) - ensuring alignment with Europe’s Digital Decade 2030 targets, the nation’s Digital Ireland Framework, the Public Service’s Connecting Government 2030 and the Department’s Digital Strategy Framework.
Sabahat Khan, Chief Information Officer at the LGMA, on how the strategy was developed:
How will the strategy deliver better public services for the public? In what way will local government services be different/improve?
The vision of the strategy is to deliver modern local government services, powered by digital technology. It is structured around four themes:
- Digital Services: Provide easier digital access to local government services and institutionalise usage by improving consistency and taking a people-centric approach to designing those services.
- Digital Communities: Provide digital access, connectivity, and support for members of the public and businesses to improve quality of life in our communities, while ensuring everyone is included.
- Digital Systems: Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the way we work through the implementation of identified technology solutions.
- Digital Workforce: Provide our staff the technology, digital tools, and skills required to fully interact in a digital way.
This Strategy will dramatically transform and modernise the way the public will interact with local government and the services made available to them. The Strategy aims to upscale our local communities, providing access to technology, connectivity and training while ensuring no one is left behind. It will also modernise the way the local authorities operate, how we provide our services and support to the public and will also upskill our workforce to incrementally make Ireland the premier GovTech (government with an innovative, efficient, and agile underpinning of technology in the world).
Supporting this modernisation initiative, the first Irish National Security Operation Centre (SOC) will be implemented, providing state of the art cybersecurity prevention capabilities to the local authorities.
What did your team learn from the process of developing the strategy?
There are various individuals who will be impacted by the Strategy including the 31 local authorities, the Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage, Central Government, and, perhaps most importantly, the general public.
Keeping these individuals at the forefront while developing the Strategy was paramount. With that in mind, the team worked closely with these stakeholders to understand their needs to develop the Strategy.
Throughout this process, the team reverted back to the stakeholders using surveys, town halls and other collaboration venues to solicit feedback, ensuring we were consistently aligned. Our chosen approach proved highly effective, and we plan to continue using it as we gradually implement the Strategy.
Moreover, presenting a unified front across the sector was crucial. Our alignment and shared direction contributed significantly to our success.