journal article: local e-government in northern ireland

I'm starting to trawl through older meterial, brace yourself for more, one-a-day.

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Local government Studies
Volume 31, Number 3 / June 2005
pp. 307-320

Maeve Paris

Local E-Government and Devolution: Electronic Service Delivery and the Digital Divide in Northern Ireland

There are billions of annual transactions between citizens and government; most of these are between citizens and local government. Both central and local government share the same target for electronic service delivery: 100% of key services online by 2005. In Northern Ireland, however, district councils are being left behind on the e-government agenda. The Northern Ireland Assembly, currently suspended, has no provisions or recommendations for local e-government, although many transactional services of interest to ordinary citizens are provided by local councils. The absence of a strategy for local e-government means that district councils are left to their own devices, and this contrasts with the rest of the UK. A snapshot of local councils is used to assess the extent of provision of electronic service delivery, highlighting examples of innovation, and indicating significant challenges for Northern Ireland local e-government during a period of suspended devolution.