[Okfn-irl] Next Steps for OGP in Ireland?

[O'Connor, Evelyn]

Dear Nat,

I refer to our previous emails concerning next steps for OGP Ireland and in particular the drafting of our first OGP National Action Plan.

Firstly we welcome your enthusiasm for the hosting of the EU Regional Conference on 8th and 9th May and share your view that it will be an opportunity to provide a showcase for OGP in Ireland leading hopefully to increased   and interest in OGP objectives.

By way of update, the OGP Support Unit has pushed out the deadline for launching cohort 4 National Action Plans to 15th June.  However, the conference provides a good opportunity to launch our Action Plan and  I think we should work towards that goal.  The OGP Support Unit will also be encouraging other new joiners to launch their Action Plans at our conference.

The Minister proposes to update Government in relation to the OGP before the end of the month, which will provide us with a mandate for moving forward on the development of the Plan.

In that regard, we are keen to initiate engagement in the short term through a steering group structure comprising representatives of civil society interest to plan in the first instance the process for preparing a draft National Action Plan for consideration and approval by Government in due course.

I would appreciate if you and your colleagues could update us of the current position in terms of readiness for the civil society side to progress the establishment of the steering group structure so that we can take  the next steps in preparing the National Act Plan.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards

Evelyn
Government Reform Unit
6045311


From: Nat O'Connor [mailto:noconnor at tascnet.ie]
Sent: 22 November 2013 15:09
To: Beausang, William
Cc: admin at ogpireland.ie; communications at ogpireland.ie; okfn-irl at lists.okfn.org; open-data-ireland at googlegroups.com; open-government-ireland at googlegroups.com; O'Connor, Evelyn; Martinez, Claire; McCann, Conor
Subject: Next Steps for OGP in Ireland?

William Beausang
Head of Government Reform Unit and Civil Service HR Policy Division
Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

CC various mailing lists
BCC (private) 43 individual email addresses of interested people
Apologies for any cross-posting


Dear William,

Further to the meeting between members of civil society and your team (October 25th), where
it was suggested that we propose a process to inform your unit's submission to a Government meeting before late November. I'm conscious that time is pressing on this.

At our discussion at the October meeting, I recall that a potential impasse was identified. Civil society has put forward 71 recommended actions; however the Government has yet to put forward their own list of proposed actions, derived from the Programme for Government and from civil service suggestions from the relevant Departments. We risk getting bogged down if either side wants to stick to their preferred list and go through each item one after the other in exhaustive detail.

You noted that the national OGP Action Plans are meant to be short documents and you suggested that we begin the Irish Action Plan with a higher level narrative text, informed by both lists of proposed actions. Out of this higher level text, we would then derive a set of SMART actions for the first plan. These would differ in detail from some of the proposals from either side, but they would hopefully address a large number of them and provide a basis for substantive progress on some of the OGP goals. (I would add, this should not close down further discussion on any proposals from civil society).

Based on this, the following is a suggestion from me. I benefited from feedback by email from the various colleagues but any remaining errors/omissions are my own:

Proposed Process for Civil Society and Government Joint Working on Ireland's OGP Plan


1.       We want a process that leads to a jointly-drafted Action Plan between civil society and Government;



2.       A steering group drawn from civil society needs to be established to provide continuity of contact between wider civil society and the Government. We need a small number of volunteers to commit to attending a regular number of meetings between now and April 2014, to engage with the Government on jointly-drafting the first Irish Action Plan;



3.       The Government needs to commit to a series of meetings between now and April 2014 to work jointly on the first Irish OGP Action Plan;



4.       All formal records of the process (e.g. Agendas, Minutes) should be posted online in a timely fashion after each meeting, so that wider civil society and the general public can access them and monitor the process;



5.       Members of civil society have been consulted by Transparency International Ireland, leading to a report containing 62 recommended actions (some of which are multiple actions). Another 9 additional actions were submitted in parallel to this process, leading to a total of 71 civil society proposed actions (some of which have multiple aspects to them);



6.       The Government is to produce a list of its own proposed actions for inclusion in the OGP Action Plan;



7.       The first meeting of the Joint Government-Civil Society OGP Steering Group (hereafter Steering Group) should agree headers for high level narrative text within the first Action Plan - drawing on experience from other countries' plans;



8.       These headers should be elaborated with text that accurately reflects the diverse ideas and the overall direction of travel indicated in the TI report of the civil society consultations. It should equally represent the Programme for Government/civil service proposals;



9.       Based on the high level text, subsequent meetings of the Steering Group should agree SMART actions to be included in the first Action Plan;



10.   A draft Action Plan should then be published with sufficient time for wider civil society and the general public to make comments and suggestions;



11.   The joint Steering Group than should meet to agree the final plan text for submission to the OGP Summit in April.



12.   Periodic meetings of the joint Steering Group should continue to monitor progress on the plan, and prepare for its renewal.


Come April 2014, no one is likely to be perfectly happy with the resultant Action Plan, however I would hope that it would lead to the best possible compromise and provide a solid basis to see some new open government actions implemented that go beyond what was anticipated in the Programme for Government.

Likewise, I would hope that the process would provide a basis for working together and with Government on open government that would be sustainable throughout the lifetime of the plan.

There is already work ongoing to form a series of thematic working groups (following similar topics to the ones being formed at international level in OGP) and other existing groups (e.g. Aarhus Roadshow) could be seen as relevant stakeholders equivalent to working groups too, so that everyone interested in a given topic has an opportunity to voice their suggestions and concerns between meetings of the Steering Group. Facilitating this and attending relevant working groups would be an additional commitment required of anyone volunteering to join the Steering Group.

As you know, two significant things have occurred subsequently to our October meeting. Firstly, some civil society people attended the two-day global Open Government Partnership summit in London (31st Oct/1st Nov), which was preceded for those who could attend by civil society meetings and open data meetings earlier in the week. Secondly, there has been a major public dispute about FOI fees and a real risk that the amended FOI Act will increase the barriers to FOI usage through higher costs associated with non-personal FOI requests, which runs counter to the goals of the OGP.

The summit provided lots of useful information and examples of how OGP is working in other countries; the pitfalls as well as the success stories. It was good to see your colleagues Evelyn O'Connor and Claire Martinez there. I heard Minister Howlin speak supportively about OGP at the European Caucus and when addressing the panel on whistleblower protection. There seems to be a vibrant international movement for OGP - but one limited by resources and still in its fragile early stages.

In relation to the dispute about FOI up-front fees, I would be remiss if I didn't say that many activists are angry and feel a lack of trust, which extends in some cases to the wider OGP process. I personally believe that up-front FOI fees are a barrier to democratic participation and should be abolished.

But OGP is about more than FOI, and it is important that Ireland puts in place a robust process for civil society engagement with Government about our first OGP Action Plan, and its implementation and annual renewal. This process should be solid enough to permit us to have a serious debate with Government about the merits and demerits of FOI fees, without allowing this issue to block further progress on the other 70 proposed actions from the OGP consultancy process.

I hope this proposal is of use in moving things forward. I would welcome your comments on it and I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Nat


Nat O'Connor MA PhD
Director
TASC - Think-tank for Action on Social Change
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Dublin 2, Ireland

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