...Good old revenue.ie

twanda

(choppy/limited internet access so sorry if this was posted already)

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/03/07/irish-close-duplicate-500-web

''CELTIC TIGER, the Irish Republic has shut down a public service web site after it found that it already had one doing the same job that had been set up and run by the same department.''

Wertz

lmao

Alun

But aren't they two completely different things? citizensinformation.ie (the old oasis.gov.ie) is just an information source whereas reachservices.ie is used as a secure portal to access government services (such as the revenue's ROS service) that you have to register for, and log onto each time.

mydarkstar

yep, you have to sign up for a Reach Services password to enable you apply for a Revenue PIN to access the full range of Revenue online services - well the employee services anyway cos self-employed people have their own version of ROS. If they cancel the Reach site they'll have to find an alternative way to sign up for the Revenue PIN.

Never noticed that Reach does info too, but it is the same question/answer thingy as the Citizens Info website. From a quick look at Reach the Citizens Info site appears to be a lot more comprehensive though.

Squall

As far as I know the broker system that reach is based on is being kept on.... ide imagine theyll just move it to citizensinformation site.

Essentially theyre just making two front ends (granted that was a waste of money) into one.

randylonghorn

Squall wrote: »

Essentially theyre just making two front ends into one.

Aye, this government is good at that, all right! :rolleyes:

Squall

randylonghorn wrote: »

Aye, this government is good at that, all right! :rolleyes:

Haha

Totally unintentional pun there

Sherifu

It's only half a mil lost. Small peanuts. They've had bigger f ups.

Chips Lovell

Squall wrote: »

As far as I know the broker system that reach is based on is being kept on....

That's correct, yes.

bringitdown

Wait; should I be calling Joe Duffy or not?

The article suggests a much larger waste of money.

themadchef

:eek: Our blessed government wasting money..

Say it eint so?

On the othe hand, i don't think it will affect my sleep tonight.

Kipperhell

That article is quite stupid. The websites in question do not do the same thing. In saying that Reach is really not very good for what it is meant to do. I know people who worked on the site and it doesn't work as meant. That is down to the inability on a state agency to manage software product design. Essentially reach was a great idea but needed cross departmental agreement prior to starting which it didn't have.

DaCorkGeezer

Hi,

The whole reachservices has to be one of the most annoying, confusing, long-winded, cluttered, tedious online experience I've had in years...

It takes I don't know how many steps to access PAYE..obtain a PIN (oh wait your PIN is obsolete, please request a new one), set up an account (p/w has to be min 8 char long incl. number and special char etc etc), auth your account, wait until you receive another PIN (oh no axctually it's an activation code) and activate your account...

I rang them this morning as I couldn't remember the p/w (can't they email it to like other do??), the guy said he couldn't see it, I will be sent a new p/w BY POST...I mean, what's the point in ringing them if they can't even assist you?

In this day and age of carbon reduction etc, instead of getting rid of as much paperwork as possible, they contribute to it by sending letters which will be thrown away...

connundrum

Full article:

CELTIC TIGER, the Irish Republic has shut down a public service web site after it found that it already had one doing the same job that had been set up and run by the same department.

It was discovered that the four year old reachservices.ie site was providing information already available on citizensinformation.ie despite both being run by the Department of Social and Family Affairs. Reachservices.ie managed 18,000 visitors in one year while citizens information.ie got 2.5 million.

Reachservices.ie will close after the Irish Public Accounts Committee said it was a "total waste" to have both sites running. Proving that cost overruns in the public sector are universal, the committee said that the cost of the Broker system, on which the un-needed web site was based, had gone from €14 million to €37 million.

Still, why have one when you can have two at twice the cost?

Oh and lol!