INSPIRE Knowledge Base

Ireland - 2020: Country Fiche

Table of Contents
  • Introduction
  • State of Play
    • Coordination
    • Functioning and coordination of the infrastructure
    • Usage of the infrastructure for spatial information
    • Data Sharing Arrangements
    • Costs and Benefits
  • Key Facts and Figures. 
    • Monitoring Indicators
Introduction

The INSPIRE Directive sets the minimum conditions for interoperable sharing and exchange of spatial data across Europe as part of a larger European Interoperability Framework and the e-Government Action Plan that contributes to the Digital Single Market Agenda. Article 21 of INSPIRE Directive defines the basic principles for monitoring and reporting. More detailed implementing rules regarding INSPIRE monitoring and reporting have been adopted as Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/1372 on the 19th August 2019.

This country fiche highlights the progress in the various areas of INSPIRE implementation. It includes information on monitoring 2019 acquired in December 2019 and Member States update.

State Of Play

This report sets out a high-level view on the governance, use and impact of the INSPIRE Directive in Ireland.  More detailed information is available on the INSPIRE knowledge base.

Coordination

National Contact Point
Name of Public Authority: 
Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Contact Email: 
Click to email
MIG Contacts: 
Contact Person: 
Eamonn Foley
Email: 
Eamonn.Foley@housing.gov.ie
Contact Person: 
Emma Reeves
Email: 
Emma.reeves@housing.gov.ie
MIG T Contacts: 
Contact Person: 
Eamonn Foley
Email: 
Eamonn.Foley@housing.gov.ie
Coordination Structure & Progress: 

National Contact point

 

Name of the public authority

Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government

Contact information:

Mailing address

IRL INSPIRE,

National Contact Point

Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government

Newtown Road

Wexford

Ireland

Telephone number

+353 53 9117417

Email address

inspire.ie@housing.gov.ie

Organisation’s website URL

http://www.housing.gov.ie

Contact person (if available)

Emma Reeves

Telephone number

+353 53 9117417

Email address

emma.reeves@housing.gov.ie 

Contact person - substitute (if available)

Sheila Power

Telephone number

+353 53 9117567

Email address

sheila.power@housing.gov.ie  

 

 

Coordination Structure

  • The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government is leading the development of an Action Plan for the implementation of INSPIRE in Ireland
  • The INSPIRE Steering Committee is providing an effective structure for coordinating, across the key stakeholders, the contributions of all those with an interest in relevant data.
  • The National Contact Point is the Chair of the Steering Committee.
  • The terms of reference of the Committee are to provide a strategic overview and appropriate guidance on the implementation of the INSPIRE Directive.
  • The INSPIRE Steering Committee meets twice per year and is the main vehicle for the coordination of stakeholder interests and includes representation from the main data owners nationally.  Membership of this national committee is provided at Table A.

Progress

  • The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government has been assigned responsibility by the Irish Government to lead the implementation of the INSPIRE Directive in Ireland.  Legislation formalising this position was signed into law by regulation in 2015, and in July 2018 a confirmatory Statutory Instrument S.I. No. 280 of 2018 was signed.
  • Irish representatives are taking an active part in working groups at European level.
  • In early 2018 the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government commissioned a Report to better understand the current position on INSPIRE in Ireland. 
  • The recommendations from this Report (dated June 2018) have been accepted and are influencing the direction and pace of work on a roadmap to full implementation of the INSPIRE Directive in Ireland. 
  • A dedicated team including policy and technical expertise has been established to lead this project.
  • In early 2019 the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government allocated additional resources to assist its INSPIRE officials and stakeholders on a range of tasks including but not limited to the creation of work packages around monitoring and reporting, data specifications, metadata, network services, spatial data services and validation. 
  • Following tendering process the contract for this consultative work was awarded, providing Ireland with an INSPIRE skillset for support and advice to escalate compliance. This enabled the creation of a data providers communication plan (RACI) identifying Responsible, Accountable, Informed, the provision of Data Providers Workshops for metadata and dashboard maintenance  and the creation of an agreed Action Plan.

Table A: INSPIRE STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP

 

NAME

ORGANISATION

EMAIL

Emma Reeves

(Chair)

Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Newtown Road, Wexford Y35 W821.

emma.reeves@housing.gov.ie

 

Sheila Power

Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Newtown Road, Wexford Y35 W821.

sheila.power@housing.gov.ie

 
Margaret Twynam-Muldoon (GIS) Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government,Custom House, Dublin 1 D01 W6X0. Margaret.TwynamMuldoon@housing.gov.ie

Rob Ovington (GIS)

Deirdre Kelly (GIS)

 

Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government,Custom House, Dublin 1 D01 W6X0.

robert.ovington@housing.gov.ie

Deirdre.Kelly@housing.gov.ie

 

Lorraine McNerney

Maria Byrne

Ordnance Survey Ireland,
Phoenix Park,
Dublin 8 D08 F6E4.

Lorraine.mcnerney@osi.ie

Maria.Byrne@osi.ie

 

Eileen Carroll

Environmental Protection Agency, Johnstown Castle Estate, Wexford, Y35 W821

E.Carroll@epa.ie

Adam Leadbetter

Tara Keena

The Marine Institute

Rinville, Oranmore, Co Galway H91 R673.

Adam.Leadbetter@Marine.ie

tara.keena@marine.ieGrainne

James Barry

The Property Registration Authority,

Chancery Street, Dublin 7 D07 T652.

james.barry@prai.ie

 

Gráinne O'Shea

Trevor Alcorn

Geological Survey Ireland, Beggar’s Bush, Haddington Road, Dublin 4 D04 K7X4.

Grainne.NiShe@gsi.ie

Trevor.alcorn@gsi.ie
Paul Alexander Central Statistics Office, Unit 5/6 Swords Business Campus, Co Dublin K67 D2X4.

paul.alexander@cso.ie

 

Gareth John

Department of Culture Heritage and the Gaeltacht, 23 Kildare Street, Dublin D02 TD30.

gareth.john@chg.gov.ie

 

Functioning and coordination of the infrastructure

  • Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) provides the INSPIRE Geoportal and supporting functions through a managed service as agreed with Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (DHPLG). The next step is to set out the roles and responsibilities of both parties with respect to that managed service in a formal Memorandum of Understanding document.
  • Irelands INSPIRE Geoportal has recently been upgraded with new hardware and software, and with simpler implementation to remove and reduce accessibility issues related to complex licencing and security software in previous version.  The rebuilding project is a long term project that involves a full review of a system that had included data that was not relevant to INSPIRE and building, in the first instance, on relevant metadata.
  • The new Geoportal is available at https://inspire.geohive.ie and Discovery Service endpoint is at https://inspire.geohive.ie/geoportal/csw?SERVICE=CSW&VERSION=2.0.2&REQUEST=GetCapabilities
  • The metadata and service records are currently under review and still being migrated and updated in the new Geoportal; this process will continue throughout 2020. 
  • Irelands INSPIRE Geoportal was upgraded to newer hardware and software in Q1 2019.  During Q3/Q4 2019 a new user identity store was developed and tested, this will allow data providers to upload, edit and manage their metadata records without the need to go through either OSi or DHPLG.  This update is due for release to the production Geoportal environment in Q1 2020 and should facilitate easier and faster metadata updates by all data providers.
  • The ongoing development of the newly upgraded Geoportal is an integral part of Ireland’s commitment to meeting its INSPIRE obligations.

Usage of the infrastructure for spatial information

  • The challenge of building more open, transparent and accountable public governance in Ireland is a key objective in the Irish Public Service; and progress is being achieved through a range of reform initiatives.
  • In January 2019 the Government published its first Data Strategy for the public service which sets out goals and actions to deliver more joined-up whole–of-Government approach to how data is used and managed within the public service.  The INSPIRE Directive is referenced in section 5.12 under the heading of Geo-Spatial.  This strategy is available to download at https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/1d6bc7-public-service-data-strategy-2019-2023/
  • The Open Data Initiative is closely aligned with the Public Service Reform Plan, the ICT Strategy, and the Civil Service Renewal Plan.  As of May 2019 there are almost 10,000 datasets published on the Open Data portal https://data.gov.ie/  from 108 publishers.
  • Open data is recognized by the Irish Government as having a powerful role to play in the Public Service.  Open Data is an important element of a wide variety of key policy documents and action plans. Ireland’s Open Data portal provides transparency through the publication of Irish Public Sector data in open, free and reusable formats.

Data sharing arrangements

  • The INSPIRE Data Sharing arrangements organise the publication of the declared Irish INSPIRE datasets through the Irish INSPIRE Geoportal to connect into the EU INSPIRE portal and wider INSPIRE network of re-use.
  • The National Mapping Agreement is an agreement between the Irish Government and Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) which gives Government Departments, Public Sector Bodies and Educational Institutions, including new and existing users, access to Ordnance Survey Ireland’s geospatial data. 
  • As part of the Open Data initiative, the open licence format adopted by the Irish Government is the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence, which allows for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials. This policy is in line with the Commission’s guidelines on recommended licences and datasets in relation to the Public Sector Information Directive. 
  • In March 2019 the Data Sharing and Governance Act 2019 was signed into law.  The Act comes in the wake of the GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 in order to clarify and strengthen the data sharing rights and obligations of public bodies.  The Act paves the way for more efficient and cost effective service delivery by public bodies by providing a clear legal basis for the sharing of personal data in certain circumstances.  The aim is to reduce the administrative burden associated with the need for individuals to provide their personal data to numerous public bodies.

Costs and benefits

  • The total costs associated with implementing the Directive are not systematically being measured across all stakeholders, partly because it is very difficult to track the costs related specifically to INSPIRE implementation versus those incurred in efforts to open up and share GIS data under other related projects.
  • However, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government has made available a budget of €250,000 in 2019 for INSPIRE Expertise.  It is envisaged that data owners will benefit greatly from this expertise in terms of training, education, guidance and empowerment for implementation.
  • In 2019 the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government has assigned dedicated additional technical and policy staff to the implementation of INSPIRE.
  • In the period since the last report, there has been a growing awareness of the value of open data, including GIS data. Similarly, it is reasonable to conclude that there is a growing awareness across State bodies of the benefits of delivering services on a spatial basis. It is likely that the INSPIRE Directive has helped to inform that increased awareness although no studies have been undertaken to attempt to disaggregate the contribution of INSPIRE from the general policy shift towards open data.
Key facts and figures