The Government has begun a new technology initiative that it says will transform the way in which Cabinet business is carried out.
The Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Ms Mary Hanafin, today launched the 'e-Cabinet' initiative, which she said was a major innovative project. It will enable Government departments to electronically manage all stages of the process of preparing, refining and circulating Cabinet documentation.
The system was developed by the In vision Research Corporation.
Ms Hanafin said the initiative makes the Irish Government a world leader in this area.
"e-Cabinet 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," she said.
"The Department of the Taoiseach team and In vision are to be congratulated on successfully meeting the major challenges of designing and building a system which suits the specific and demanding needs of Cabinet."
Ms Hanafin said the e-Cabinet system was one of the most ambitious information society projects undertaken to date by the Irish public service.
She said that the Government was looking forward to the 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.
Mr Michael Boses, vice president of In vision, said 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".