The virtual public servant: Ireland's public services broker

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Bannister, Frank^{a; *} | Walsh, Neasa^a

Affiliations: [a] Department of Statistics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland. Tel.: +353 1 608 2186; Fax: +353 1 661 5046; E-mail: Frank.Bannister@tcd.ie

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author

Abstract: In recent years, the Irish Government has launched a number of e-Government initiatives. The most ambitious of these is Reach, a project to develop a Public Services Broker (PSB) which will at once be a public sector portal, a public data vault, an inter-agency broker and an authentication system. If successful, this development could result in certain public services becoming virtual, i.e. being provided entirely from or by machines. The origins of the PSB and both the assumptions and the philosophy behind it are explored. A number of issues raised by the PSB are examined and its likely impact on certain aspects of Ireland's public services is assessed.

Keywords: E-government, integration, broker, portal, security, one-stop-shop

DOI: 10.3233/IP-2002-0011

Journal: Information Polity, vol. 7, no. 2-3, pp. 115-127, 2002