Ireland May 20 announced its intention to join the Open Government Partnership.
Irish membership will bring the OGP family back to 58, following the recent decision by Russia to drop out. (See related FreedomInfo.org report.)
The government’s statement quotes Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin as saying, “OGP participation will provide further momentum to progress already achieved in delivering on key reform commitments in the Programme for Government commitments to increase openness, transparency and accountability.”
The decision was welcomed by Irish civil society groups, who said, “We commend Minister Brendan Howlin, TD, and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform who played a vital role in bringing Ireland into this international effort for inclusive, open, best-practice governance.”
The groups also said, “We look forward to a constructive process, in which citizens and civil society organisations work with the government to improve accountability, transparency and reform through the co-creation and implementation of an ambitious Action Plan to which all stakeholders will contribute.
Signatories were: Denis Parfenov ActiveCitizen http://www.activecitizen.cc/; Martin Wallace ActiveCitizen; Nat O’Connor TASC http://www.tasc.ie/; Tom Stewart Open Learning Ireland http://www.openlearningireland.com/; and Nuala Haughey, Transparency International Ireland http://www.transparency.ie/
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