5. eGovernment

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Ireland got a reasonable, if not remarkable, scorecard in the latest international eGovernment benchmarking study. Still, it represents some moderately positive news for the eGovernment agenda after the drubbing it received from the Comptroller and Auditor General earlier this year about expensive, runaway projects.

Ireland came 19th in the 2008 eGovernment readiness stakes among 192 countries assessed by the UN.

That’s a point ahead of where we stood in the 2005 study. But before we get carried away, consider the runaway performance of the Scandinavian countries which command the top three positions. Also, Estonia which was our near neighbour in the 2005 study at 19, has galloped ahead to the 13th position.

The UN’s eGovernment Readiness Index, on which the scoring is based, is a composite of web measurement (the sophistication of a country’s online presence), telecommunications infrastructure (such as PC, Internet and telephony penetration) and what’s called the Human Capital Index (based on educational and literacy issues).

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