The Republic has been ranked second of 18 European countries in terms of the percentage of basic public services that are available online, a new survey shows.
But the results also reveal the Republic was knocked off the top spot by Sweden in October 2002, and little progress was made in the area in the latter half of 2002.
The European Commission's third report on electronic public services, to be published today, shows 85 per cent of basic public services are now available online.
This is the same score the Republic achieved in the second study by the Commission, which was completed for the six-month period to April 2002. However, it represents a substantial increase from the 68 per cent of public services that were available online in October 2001.
The study ranks the Republic behind Sweden, which achieved a score of 87 per cent for the period to October 2002. Denmark was ranked just behind the Republic at 82 per cent. At the bottom of the league table were Luxembourg (32 per cent), Belgium (47 per cent) and Germany (48 per cent).
In terms of the percentage of services that offer complete electronic case handling - transactions as well as information - the Republic scored 56 per cent.
This placed it in equal second place with Denmark, once again behind Sweden, which scored 67 per cent.
The study highlighted an e-government initiative, developed by the Government agency Reach, which enables users to apply for building permission online regardless of the county of residence.
It cited this service as an example of "best practice" as it was a co-ordinated e-government solution that was fully supported by a re-organised back office.
The study, which was conducted by the technology consultancy Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, concluded the trend of growth in e-government in Europe was still clearly present.
In addition, the online sophistication of public service provision for both target groups - citizens and businesses - was also growing as services improved. In other words, the type of transactions that could be carried out online has been expanding and has led to major organisational changes and work practices in public-sector organisations.
