7/27/2019 The Irish Experience Phase Two: From Intention To Consultation

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THE IRISH EXPERIENCE

PHASE TWO: FROM INTENTION TO CONSULTATION:

“PUTTING ITS MONEY WHERE ITS MOUTH IS“1

Author: Sarita Ranchod Editor: Sonja Boezak

The three physical consultations attracted more than100 participants, rom a diverse range o interest

groups including women’s and environmental

groups with a common interest in accountable

and transparent governance, improved access to

inormation and increased citizen engagement

in the decisions that aect their lives.

“The diversity o the participants was really encouraging

and showed that opening up government to

scrutiny and engagement requires holistic reorms

across a wide range o areas,” Haughey stated.

The CS consultations were organised around the

OGP’s 4 core principles o Accountability, Citizen

Participation, Technology and Innovation and

Transparency. The 4 working groups generated

62 action plan proposals via a transparent process

o discussion, prioritisation and consensus voting

among the individuals and civil society representatives

who participated in the consultation process.

O the 62 action plan proposals, 22 related to citizen

participation, 19 to transparency, 12 to technology

and innovation, and 9 to accountability. Proposals

straddle the OGP’s ve ‘grand challenges’ o improvingpublic services, increasing public integrity, more

eectively managing public resources, creating saer

communities and increasing corporate accountability.

The most popular area o interest, and the largest

working group, was the ‘citizen participation’ group.

Haughey attributed the signicant interest in citizen

participation to “a core o malcontent in Western

Europe, a disillusionment with how democracy is

Ireland’s OGP CS consultation process included three

public consultations between July and September

2013 in Dublin, supported by opportunities to

engage online or those unable to attend the

meetings. Visitors to the online platorm were

encouraged to make their voices heard, either by

participating in the online discussion orum space,

contributing collaborative online documents, by

making submissions through the site or by email.

Haughey says the Irish government’s unding o

the CS consultation process was evidence thatgovernment was “putting its money where its mouth

is” in terms o its commitment to the OGP process

so ar. “The Irish government unded the platorm

or this initial engagement. We were conscious that

civil society had to own the process even though

government paid or the room, and I think the end

result was a set o diverse proposals that reect the

strength o civil society engagement,” she said.

1This article is the second o three on Ireland’s OGP Process. Watch this space or the next article to be published in January 2014, refecting

on the process to date as Ireland prepares its Action Plan.

Following the Irish government’s letter o

intent to join the OGP in May 2013, a tenderwas issued or an organisation to undertakethe initial civil society (CS) consultationprocess on behal o the Irish government.Transparency International Ireland (TII)won the tender to coordinate this processunder the leadership o Nuala Haughey,TII’s Research and Advocacy Manager.

7/27/2019 The Irish Experience Phase Two: From Intention To Consultation

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The abolition o Ireland’s Freedom o Inormation

ees was seen as key to accessing inormation that

is in the public’s interest and improving citizens’

rights to access inormation held by the state.

Technology and innovation proposals ocused on:

• Unlocking the potential o open data to drive

innovation, economic growth, improved

public services and strengthened democracyby creating a culture where government

inormation is widely accessible and useul.

Key proposals relating to accountability included:

• Improving accountability in the nancial sector

towards rebuilding public trust in government

ater the global and Irish economic crises;

• Enhancing the powers and remit o

Ireland’s Comptroller and Auditor General,

and introducing sanctions or excessive

waste o public resources; and

• Improving the eectiveness and opennesso existing accountability institutions.

A key outcome o the consultation process was a

report outlining the 62 priority proposals across the

our ocus areas, accompanied by their rationales.

The report was submitted to the Department o

Public Expenditure and Reorm (DPER), Ireland’s

lead agency on OGP, on 1 October 2013.

working, and a desire o citizens to have a say in

decision-making at local and national levels, not

 just at election time, but on an ongoing basis.”

Proposals on citizen participation ocused on:

• Placing citizens at the heart o reorms;

• Fostering active citizenship; and

• Putting people beore the economy.

To this end, participatory budgeting was identied

as an important entry point or increasing citizen

engagement in the allocation o public nancial

resources, particularly at local government level.

Increased citizen consultation in drating legislation

and making ofcial data user-riendly to increase social

inclusion also received priority support. Focusing

on the next generation, mechanisms to encourage

and enable children and young people to become

active citizens, and consideration or reducing the

voting age o 18 to 16 to enable young people’s

engagement as active citizens was proposed.

Proposals on transparency ocused on:

• Increasing access to inormation or

holding government accountable;

• Ensuring eective resource use and

enabling meaningul collaboration

between citizens and public servants;

• The need or better access to inormation about

public policy ormation, public services, and

government spending were seen as priority entry

points or enhancing transparent governance.

“a core of malcontent in Western Europe, a disillusionment

with how democracy is working, and a desire of citizens

to have a say in decision-making at local and national

levels, not just at election time, but on an ongoing basis.” 

- Nuala Haughey, on signifcant interest in the citizen participation group

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THE IRISH EXPERIENCE PHASE TWO: FROM INTENTION TO CONSULTATION:

“PUTTING ITS MONEY WHERE ITS MOUTH IS”

Commenting on eorts that led up to and preceded

the consultation process, Haughey noted thatreaching the stage o a ormal CS consultationprocess was the result o the eorts, energy andcommitment o a small group o sel-selectedindividuals and organisations committed toOGP values. “There was lots o discussion thatcame beore this, both within civil society andbetween civil society and government. Therewere months o engagement beore the frstconsultation meeting,” she concluded.

In our next OGP Ireland article, Phase 3, to be published

in January 2014, we ocus on the processes leading upto the adoption o Ireland’s Action Plan and how the

civil society lobby and consultation processes helped to

inorm the content o Ireland’s national OGP action plan.

 CLICK TO LISTEN TO NUALA HAUGHEY