Open Government National Action Plan 2023-2025

We recently had a public call for submissions on Ireland’s fourth open government national action plan under four thematic areas: transparency and accountability in public office; citizen decision-making; public access to Government data; and strengthening public trust in Government. I want to ask about the follow-up steps we are taking, how we will implement those and when we are likely to see an action plan issue from the end of that process.

Deputy Patrick O’Donovan

I am taking this question on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, who is out of the country as well. As part of the programme for Government, Ireland is committed to re-energising its Open Government Partnership, OGP, process. The OGP aims to secure concrete commitments from governments across the world to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. Member countries sign the OGP declaration and participate in its processes to advance the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability, and stakeholder participation. A key element of the partnership is the co-creation and monitoring of commitments by Government with civil society representatives.

During 2021, the Department established Ireland’s Open Government Partnership round table, made up of representatives from the public service and from civil society. This round table works collaboratively to ensure a consistent, value-adding and meaningful approach to the co-creation of national action plans, containing concrete commitments advancing the OGP agenda, and monitoring their subsequent implementation. Commitments contained in open government national action plans are prepared for agreement by Government after consultation by the round table with civil society, citizens and policy owners from Government Departments and public bodies.

On 8 March this year, the Department launched a public consultation to encourage members of the public and civil society organisations to submit their ideas for Ireland’s fourth open government national action plan. The round table identified four key thematic areas: transparency; participative democracy; public access to government data; and strengthening public trust.

Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh

I mention the OECD better life initiative, which closely shadows what our well-being indices will look like here. Under that initiative it is the civic engagement score that we rank lowest on. For some reason Irish people feel quite distant from their Government and I suspect that is to do with the under-empowering of local government for a number of years. That needs to be remediated, particularly when we look at the societal challenges we are facing. We need to be able to better engage with the populace to better explain our decisions, to have better public feed in and to have a participative democracy element. I have a slight and nagging concern that we do these open calls for submissions but I would like a sense of where those submissions are going and how they are informing what the final plan will look like. I would also like to have a sense of when we are likely to see that final plan.

Deputy Patrick O’Donovan

In the last Government I was a Minister of State with responsibility for the OGP. In the context of the round table established in 2021, some of its members include: the Open Government Association Ireland; Digital Rights Ireland; the Kildare Public Participation Network, PPN, representing all the PPNs; the Think-tank for Action on Social Change; the Wheel; Irish Rural Link; the Change Agency; and Innovate Communities. There are a number of public sector bodies as well.

This is on top of the work being done, for instance, in the citizens’ assemblies and the PPNs, together with the work of the strategic policy committees in our local authorities, which the Deputy will be familiar with in his county. I mention also the work of our Oireachtas committees in bringing in groups from outside to give views. The citizens’ assembly model has led on this but it ultimately comes back to the Oireachtas to make sure that level of engagement can be fostered on a continuing basis. There is possibly a role, for instance, for the Seanad. It has done an awful lot of work on this. I do not want to speak for the Seanad as I am not a Senator but in that context there is a greater level of positioning that the other House might possibly be able to take up on this.

Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh

The Minister of State specifically referenced the citizens’ assemblies and I was going to reference them. That is a great model of participative and deliberative democracy but we need to see that transformed into action. We need to have some sort of process whereby recommendations of citizens’ assemblies are put in place. We ask these 99 citizens to give of their time and they generally produce outstanding recommendations but we need to have a way of making sure those do not sit on the shelf. Those other traditional avenues include planning, which has been cited. We need to rebuild people’s trust in a planning system which is seen as not fit for purpose. We do not want to legislate for a situation where we lessen people’s voices within that structure.

I would like to float the following idea with the Minister of State. In Denmark they have a festival of democracy, which is a lovely idea. They simply have a festival that is much like Electric Picnic but without the bands. It might suit people of my age category with nice early nights and quiet nights in. It is something that would map quite well to the Irish context and something we should look at.

Deputy Patrick O’Donovan

The citizens’ assemblies have helped in no small way to inform change that has come about in this country in recent years. Often times people are accused of being behind the public on a number of different issues but the citizens’ assemblies have informed debate and they are an important part of democracy. It is my intention as Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works to meet the chairperson of the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss as soon as possible to reflect on the findings of that gathering and the work it did because the Department I head up has a massive impact in the land we own and the responsibilities we have. That goes back to questions that have been raised by Deputies Conway-Walsh, Colm Burke, Canney and others on the work we do.

I will refer the Deputy’s question on a party or festival on to the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth. One of the enlightening ideas there has been in recent years is the advent of the summer schools, which can be thematic. Maybe the local authorities and PPNs could be supported to a greater extent and their remit and the context in which they discuss issues could be widened.