IE - 2024: Country Fiche

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. State of Play
    1. Coordination
    2. Functioning and coordination of the infrastructure
    3. Usage of the infrastructure for spatial information
    4. Data Sharing Arrangements
    5. Costs and Benefits

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 for 2023 acquired in December 2023 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.

As of March 2024 responsibility for the INSPIRE Directive in Ireland has been assigned to the Minister for the Environment Climate and Communications from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. S.I. 109 of 2024.

Coordination

National Contact Point

Coordination Structure & Progress:

Coordination structure

• The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage was 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 - European Communities (Establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) Regulations 2010 (S.I. No. 382 of 2010). In July 2018 a confirmatory Statutory Instrument, S.I. No. 280 of 2018, was signed. The development of data and service sharing agreements, and the Monitoring and Reporting function was also the responsibility of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Irish representatives are taking an active part in working groups at European level.

• The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) organised workshops with all identified data providers. The purpose of the workshops is to create a forum in which representatives from Departments and Agencies responsible for INSPIRE datasets can have an open discussion on their responsibilities and can seek guidance on managing their data. The workshops deal with the executive of tasks needed for compliance and implementation of the Directive during 2023 and to identify and support needed. The support assignments were reviewed monthly by DHLGH.

Progress

• Ireland has worked, monitored and reported to fulfil the requirements set out in the INSPIRE Directive. As part of its Monitoring and Reporting responsibilities, the DHLGH worked on the monitoring and reporting processes by publishing different reports, which include the status of the implementation of the Directive and publishing metadata files through the geoportal of Ireland, which allows the creation of the monitoring process describing current spatial datasets, metadata and web services.

• During the last five years the situation in relation to Ireland’s adherence to the INSPIRE Directive has improved considerably, supported by contracts made with an external support provider, TRACASA which has greatly improved the implementation of the INSPIRE Directive in all work areas. DHLGH and Tailte Éireann, with the help of Tracasa, have worked in a coordinated way, reactivating tasks, applications and tools related to the INSPIRE Directive as the implementation of an action plan and a dashboard for Ireland, improved the geoportal information, creation of metadata, data transformation, network services creation and validation. The Department and Tracasa held regular meetings to update on progress towards meeting INSPIRE obligations and to set tasks for the short to medium term in relation to data management, processes and liaison with data owners.

• All these achievements were done involving those responsible data providers through training and user stories including specific tasks. At this time, organisations such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Geological Survey Ireland, Marine Institute, DHLGH, Central Statistics Office, Tailte Éireann, Met Éireann, Teagasc and the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine have carried out work such as creating metadata, transforming data with FME according to technical specifications, updating the transformed dataset to match the most up-to-date information and publishing the correspondence network services. Those undertaken tasks and organisations will serve as a reference for the rest of the data providers in order to comply with the INSPIRE Directive. New objectives involve working on the coverage of as many INSPIRE themes as possible and scheduling maintenance activities.

Functioning and coordination of the infrastructure

• Tailte Éireann provides the INSPIRE Geoportal and supporting functions through a managed service. The INSPIRE Geoportal of Ireland is the official access point to the INSPIRE compliant information of Ireland (metadata of datasets and services). During the latter part of 2023 Ireland’s INSPIRE Geoportal was closed for maintenance. Consequently, the results in the Monitoring and Reporting 2023 were affected, changing slightly the results obtained in previous years. • In 2023 the Geoportal software was updated to the latest available version as part of ongoing standard software maintenance

• The Geoportal is available at https://inspire.geohive.ie and the Discovery Service Endpoint is at https://inspire.geohive.ie/geoportal/csw?SERVICE=CSW&VERSION=2.0.2&REQUEST=GetCapabilities The Geoportal is an integral part of Ireland’s commitment to meeting its INSPIRE obligations.

• During 2020 metadata was migration to MD TG 2.0 as required by the INSPIRE Directive and the following years metadata files were updated when required (maintenance task).

• During 2021 and 2022 main tasks accomplished were related to services as the last Monitoring and Reporting reflects: service publication and creation/update of their related metadata. Indicators related to ‘Monitoring of the availability of spatial data and service’ and ‘Monitoring of the accessibility of spatial data sets through view and download services have improved.

• During 2023, main tasks were focused on the update and publication of Spatial Datasets, as well as on knowledge transfer to the data owners to assist them with the maintenance of their dataset.

• Web services have been published with Tailte Éireann’s own resources/tools and on the Amazon Web Service to comply with the INSPIRE Directive regarding viewing and downloading services.

Usage of the infrastructure for spatial information

• The challenge of building more open, transparent and accountable public governance 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 ‘Geo-Spatial’. The strategy is available to download at gov - Public Service Data Strategy 2019 – 2023 (www.gov.ie)

• The Open Data Initiative is closely aligned with the Public Service Reform Plan, ICT Strategy and the Civil Service Renewal Plan. As of March 2024, there are over 18,500 datasets published on the Open Data portal from 148 publishers. Data.gov.ie

• Open data is recognised 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 document and action plans. Ireland’s Open Data portal provides transparency through the publication of Irish Public Sector data in open, free and reusable formats. The Open Data Strategy 2023 – 2027 has now been published which provides a framework for the actions the Public Service will take on Open Data and which aims to build on past achievements, improve data management, and maximise the benefits of open data for Ireland over the next five years and beyond. Open Data Strategy 2023-2027 - data.gov.ie

• Some of the INSPIRE tasks may cross over to INSPIRE elements of High Value Datasets identified under the Open Data Directive. The Directive (EU) 2019/1024 was transposed into Irish law by S.I. 376/2021.

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 Tailte Éireann which gives Government Departments, Public Sector Bodies and Educational Institutions, including new and existing users, access to Tailte Éireann 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 4.0) licence, which allows for maximum dissemination and use of licenced materials. This policy is in line with the Commission’s guidelines on recommended licences and datastets 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. their personal data to public bodies. 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

• While the total costs associated with implementing the Directive are not systematically being measured across all stakholders, Ireland has focused on coordination among the owners of national datasets, working towards compliance with the Directive through the organisation and delivery of workshops and guidance as required. The impact of this has been a reduction in costs for stakeholders and stronger momentum towards compliance.

• The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in 2023 made available a budget of €250,000 for the engagement of an external support provider. Data owners benefit greatly from this expertise in terms of training, education, guidance and empowerment for implementation.