New technology at the centre of Government as Hanafin launches eCabinet initiative
Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach with responsibility for the Information Society, Mary Hanafin TD, today (Thursday, July15th, 2004) officially launched eCabinet - an initiative that transforms the way in which Cabinet business is prepared and processed and supports a quicker pace of conducting Government business.
eCabinet is a major innovative project initiated by the Department of the Taoiseach and developed by the In.vision Research Corporation. Phase 1 is now up and running in all Government Departments. It enables Government Departments to electronically manage all stages of the process of preparing, refining and circulating Cabinet documentation.
Speaking at the launch, Minister Hanafin described the initiative as an initiative which makes the Irish Government a world leader in this area. eCabinet heralds the end of an era - which has operated since the foundation of the State - of manually circulating Cabinet documentation. Speed, efficiency and real time access to information will be just some of the benefits. The Department of the Taoiseach team and In.vision are to be congratulated on successfully meeting the major challenges of designing & building a system which suits the specific & demanding needs of Cabinet.
Michael Boses - Vice President of In.vision - emphasised that eCabinet has established a new benchmark for European public service projects by delivering unprecedented value-for-money, flexibility, and usability for all Departments of Government.
People do not naturally read lengthy documents on screen. Therefore, design to optimise access to information has also been important. The objective is clearer presentation of information and issues. With this in mind, further web design input was provided by two companies, Fusio and Elucidate, to further enhance this element of the overall system.
Paying tribute to all those involved in the project, Minister Hanafin described eCabinet as one of the most ambitious information society projects undertaken to date by the Irish public service, operating across a diverse range of technical infrastructures in different Government Departments. She said that the Government was looking forward to deployment of the remaining phases later this year,adding that it would be an exciting challenge for Ministers when it arrived at the Cabinet table.
Ends
Further Info: Tel: (01) 619 4241