Former Northern Ireland chief information officer (CIO) and deputy CIO for the UK cabinet Bill McCluggage has been appointed chief information officer by the Irish Government. McCluggage will take responsibility for the development of the ICT strategy for the Irish Government and the wider public service.
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin, TD, appointed McCluggage to the role.
As director of e-government and then-CIO for Northern Ireland, McCluggage led the development and successful implementation of a range of strategies that have transformed Northern Ireland’s public services’ interface with the citizen and the delivery of public-sector back-office services.
As deputy government CIO in the Cabinet Office in London, he led a multidisciplinary team that developed the government’s national ICT strategy.
McCluggage holds a BSc in electrical engineering from Queen’s University, Belfast, and an MSc in aerosystems engineering. He is a member of the Institute of Engineering, Technology & Chartered Engineers, a fellow of the British Computer Society, and is a visiting professor at the University of Ulster.
McCluggage will be reporting to the secretary general of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
He will hold ultimate responsibility for the strategic direction of technology in support of the wider mission and strategic change objectives in the public sector. In addition, he will lead the CIO Council and will drive the implementation of the e-government and cloud computing strategies.
“I look forward to the opportunity to work with the CIO Council, colleagues across Government and industry, and with the senior management team in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform under Minister Brendan Howlin and Secretary-General Robert Watt to make a tangible difference to the delivery of public services across Ireland through effective use of technology, e-government and cloud computing,” McCluggage said.
