Council set out ambitious Digital Strategy

 Ambitious four year digital priorities unveiled

Roscommon County Council has launched its new Digital Strategy 2022-2026 at the authority’s December plenary meeting which took place on Monday 19th December. This ambitious document sets out the Council’s digital priorities for the next four years.

The new strategy will introduce and embed a digital ethos through Roscommon County Council’s service delivery enhancing the county’s impact as a great place in which to live and work. The strategy also sets out the Council’s strategic goals and objectives and will maximise digital opportunities for the county.

The vision of the Roscommon Digital Strategy is to ensure Roscommon has a thriving and competitive digital economy. The document establishes the overall digital direction of the County and sets out how technology will support and enable County Roscommon to grow and develop.

Key to this ambition is connectivity and access to services previously only enjoyed by capital cities. To achieve a thriving digital economy Roscommon County Council will enhance its digital innovation hubs and oversee improvements in its citizen’s digital skills.

Further objectives of the strategy include the adaptation of appropriate community, economic and cultural digital initiatives as to as equipping schools with the latest information for teaching. A further ambition is to connect healthcare providers to leading medical centres and patients to global expertise.

Other ambitions of the plan include a reduction in the costs of public services and the renewal of community engagement in the democratic process as well as strengthening the resilience of the region in dealing with emergencies.

The delivery of the strategy in conjunction with the rollout of the National Broadband Plan will see Roscommon securing more sustainable economic growth and greater future prosperity, introducing measures and actions to create and develop a Digital/Smart county.

This new Strategy has been facilitated by extensive community and business participation in the consultation process. This has ensured the document reflects a comprehensive understanding of the real needs of people and aims for the delivery of services in Roscommon to better meet these needs.

The Roscommon Digital Strategy 2022-2026 is a blueprint for the digital progression of the county for the next four years. The objectives and actions can be linked to the three key themes of Digital Community, Digital Infrastructure and Digital Economy and Enterprise.

In terms of monitoring, the strategy will undergo quarterly progress reviews by an Oversight and Monitoring Committee who will focus on a review of objectives and actions associated with each of the three Themes to determine the status of each; implementing Key Performance Indicators for each of the actions with a Lead and Target Date and a review to determine whether new action items need to be added or existing items closed.

Commenting on the publication of Roscommon County Council’s new Digital Strategy document, CE Shane Tiernan remarked: “!This strategy will introduce and embed the digital ethos through our service delivery and thus enhance its impact in making Roscommon a great place in which to live and work.

“This four-year digital strategy sets out our strategic goals and objectives and will maximise digital opportunities for the county. I believe that, by promoting our digital agenda, through a dynamic workforce, enhanced infrastructure and services, including the rollout of the National Broadband Plan, County Roscommon will secure more sustainable economic growth and greater prosperity going into the future.

“Here in Roscommon we will be focusing on introducing measures and actions to create and develop a Digital/Smart county. Thanks to community and business participation in the consultation process, we now have a more comprehensive understanding of the real needs of people, and this strategy sets out the vision and aims for the delivery of services in Roscommon to better meet these needs.”

Roscommon Digital Strategy 2022-2026 can be downloaded here