Minister Chambers announces winners of the 10th Civil Service Excellence and Innovation Awards

Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, Jack Chambers announced the winners of the 10th Civil Service Excellence and Innovation Awards (CSEIA) in Dublin Castle last night.

The CSEIA is an annual event that recognises excellence, best practice and innovation within the Civil Service. Established in 2015, the awards are an opportunity to highlight innovations in policy and service delivery across the Civil Service where effective strategies and lessons can be shared.

A total of thirty-three teams were shortlisted across eleven categories and awards were presented to the winners at a ceremony in Dublin Castle by Minister Jack Chambers, Minister of State with responsibility for Public Procurement, Digitalisation and eGovernment, Emer Higgins and Jacqui McCrum, Secretary General of the Department of Defence.

In his opening remarks Taoiseach Micheál Martin said:

“Every day, the Civil and Public Service makes a vital contribution to Irish life and society. Over the past ten years these awards have shown what is possible when responding to challenges through problem-solving, innovation and, most importantly, by delivering essential services to the people of Ireland.

“Looking back over this period to present day, we can see our ever-increasing ingenuity and ability to advance in how we work together, putting citizens to the fore in the implementation of our strategies, policy making and service delivery.”

Minister Jack Chambers said:

“Across the nominees we have seen how digital technology is continuing to transform and enhance our ways of working, whether it is in our public courts and prison system, to building spatial analysis toolkits for forestry or becoming more agile in an ever-evolving world of international protection.

“I’d like to extend my congratulations to all of the teams who were shortlisted for this year’s awards. The nominated projects demonstrate commitment, imagination and collaborative energy in addressing a range of complex issues and delivering better public services for our people.”

Minister of State for Public Procurement, Digitalisation and eGovernment, Emer Higgins:

“All of the projects shortlisted in this year’s awards demonstrate the ability and the desire to try new approaches in how we strive for excellence in the delivery of services to the public. We can all play a part in fostering this culture of innovation, through a willingness to try new ways of doing things, and to encourage our colleagues to do the same.

“Congratulations to the winners in each of the categories. I look forward to seeing the positive impact that all of these projects will have on the future delivery of our public services.”

The winners across the night were as follows:

1. Digital First

Where digital and technological innovations have been used to improve systems, business or processes.

Winner: Courts Service and the Irish Prison Service
Expanding courtroom video technology and driving increased usage of remote appearances.

2. Embedding Innovation

Projects that demonstrate excellence in innovation by challenging the ‘old ways of doing things’ and making efforts to do something new.

Winner: Department of Justice
The IPO Modernisation Programme: Transforming the Delivery of Protection.

3. Workforce of the Future

Projects that demonstrate excellence in terms of promoting people, skills and organisational development amongst staff.

Winner: Public Jobs
Civil Service Capability Framework.

4. Workplace and Organisation of the Future

Organisations who demonstrate a culture of energy, connection and fulfilment, whereby staff feel positively engaged and connected to their work or project outcomes.

Winner: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Local Government Reform: Establishment of Office of Directly Elected Mayor of Limerick.

5. Strategic Policy Development

Projects or initiatives that bring different strands of policy together to make a real difference through excellence in policy formulation, design, consultation, implementation and evaluation.

Winner: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Review of Planning Legislation & Preparation of Planning & Development Act 2024

6. Insights-Driven Decision-Making

Projects that demonstrate excellence in the fields of research, analytics and use of data, and where these are utilised to bring about increased insight and improvements to our citizens.

Winner: Department of Health
Improving Hospital Productivity.

7. Delivering in a Dynamic Environment

Projects and work which clearly advance the core objectives and values of excellence in public service delivery where there is a degree of rapid, unpredictable or turbulent change.

Winner: Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
P2P – An Innovative Procure to Pay System.

8. Excellence Through Collaboration

Recognises excellence through collaboration across multiple departments, teams, agencies or sectors and this collaboration played a significant role in the success of an initiative.

Winner: Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport & Media with the Department of Foreign Affairs, and Tourism Ireland
Zeitgeist Irland 24

9. Citizen Impact and Customer Service

Recognises initiatives where consideration of the customer has been central to the design and delivery of services, resulting in improved service provision, and in the quality of customer service.

Winner: Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
National Broadband Plan.

10. World Class Civil Service

Recognises teams and projects that are a source of inspiration to other public administrations at home and abroad.

Winner: Department of Social Protection
State Pension Reform

11. Climate Action and Sustainable Government

Recognises projects that involved in action in relation to tackling the climate crisis or delivery of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Winner: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Building a Spatial Analysis toolkit to drive Smart and Sustainable decision making in Public Services for Forestry.