Comments on: Open Government Partnership – Minister Publishes Ireland’s Draft National Action Plan

By: Ingo Keck

Ingo Keck — Fri, 09 May 2014 12:27:06 +0000

Unfortunately the government did not mention the proposed partners for each commitment in the civil society. As for a project plan, there are missing budget information, clearly defined timelines and responsible persons.

Also, please do correct me if I am wrong, but did not the government promise to add the original proposals from the ‘participation process’ at least in the appendix?

By: flora

flora — Fri, 09 May 2014 11:49:05 +0000

There are no real key milestones defined and the monitoring process is weak: https://googledrive.com/host/0B1nGTr6XeR5aa2RqVkJNNDc3UlU/Home.html

By: flora

flora — Thu, 08 May 2014 17:41:24 +0000

It’s fantastic news that Ireland has committed to the Open Government Partnership and has come a long way to publishing this draft. I think this is an achievement but it remains to be seen whether the plan stays a plan or will be turned into action. Some insights: Citizens, civil society organisations, journalists and businesses are all calling for dropping charges for freedom of information requests, basic human right and the basis for a functioning democracy. This has been ignored in this Action Plan and goes against the OGP principles of transparency and accountability.

Two things that stand out:
– Still charging for Freedom of Information
– The action plan is now unreadable. Civil society had submitted a suggested structure that would have made it easier to read, but this draft makes it very hard to assess progress.