According to the report, the availability of government services across Europe has increased from 69 per cent to 82 per cent from 2009 to 2010.
The metrics for the report are especially significant for Ireland in a time of recession, as they focused on two essential public services: ‘finding a job’ and ‘starting a company’.
The results of the 9th European Commission eGovernment Benchmarking exercise, Digitising Public Services in Europe: Putting ambition into action ranks Ireland in first place for the provision and sophistication of online services to businesses and citizens, for the provision of eProcurement services, and for the integration of services as “life events”.
Read more: Ireland ranked in first place for the best digital public service
The survey on information and communication technologies (ICT) usage in the EU27Member States, as well as Norway, Croatia and Turkey, was mainly carried out in the first quarter of 2010 and looked at internet use and broadband connections, e-shopping, e-government, e-security and advanced communication and content-related services.
It found that while 80pc of 16 to 24 year olds in the EU27 posted messages to chat sites, blogs and social networking, just 64pc of the same age group in Ireland did so. In the 25 to 54 age group, the equivalent figures were 42pc in the EU27 and 33pc in Ireland, while they dropped to 18pc and 8pc respectively for the 55 to 74 age bracket.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said yesterday the high number of residency applications marriages between Pakistanis and EU citizens from the Baltic states was a concern. He had asked his officials to examine as “a matter of urgency” the possibility of the deployment of biometric technology to all visa applications from Pakistan.
There were 1,894 applications for residency based on marriage to an EU citizen in 2010. Some 378 of these applications were made by Pakistanis, 172 were to Latvians and 39 to Lithuanians.
The student maintenance grant is the main source of financial help available from the Irish State for students in full-time higher education undergraduate, postgraduate and Post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses.
Read more: Ireland: Student maintenance grant applications can now be made online