From Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform
By: Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform;
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Good morning everyone, and welcome to Cork, to Cork City Hall and to this, the fourth annual Public Service Innovation Conference.
We are creating a little bit of history, as it’s the first time the conference has been held in Cork - which everybody knows is the true capital of Ireland!
It’s great to be here with you today. We are grateful to receive the support of Microsoft Ireland as our partner for this event.
I extend my thanks also to Ann Doherty in Cork City Council for hosting us in the Concert Hall and I am delighted to welcome so many distinguished public sector leaders in Ireland’s Public and Civil Service.
We gather to mark and acknowledge the ongoing and continuous changes taking place across the Irish Public and Civil Service.
At present, there are 370,000 public servants working across different sectors in Ireland. They have been busy innovating – leading and participating in fresh new work practices that improve public administration practice for colleagues and citizens alike.
As National Public Service Innovation Week 2022 begins, I wish to pay tribute to our public and civil servants for continuing to successfully innovate, under the constraints posed by new and ongoing issues both domestically and internationally.
They have moved quickly to consistently deliver excellent services despite the uncertainty and unpredictability of multiple challenges.
This week is a welcome opportunity for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to celebrate the significant improvements that have taken shape throughout the Public and Civil Service in recent years.
My department plays a key role in defining, amplifying, and investing in systematic cross-sectoral public service transformation.
We champion a professional and agile public sector that generate better outcomes for our society, we fund, and connect, public service bodies, and we actively research new ways of doing things, implementing actions to positively change public service workflow.
This allows DPER to play a pivotal part in the transformation journey - that of bridge builder between State organisations and members of the public.
And it’s the citizen that we must provide a dividend to - as our key shareholder.
A prerequisite for this dividend is making innovation a real and tangible exercise in the Public Service. This in turn has to be supported by the most responsive and reliable customer service possible.
The government is committed to advancing a culture of innovation in our public service that provides a high-value return to communities into the future.
Flexible and innovative improvements to service delivery - as successfully demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and more recently during our national response to assist those fleeing war in Ukraine - powerfully builds public trust and confidence in the State.
And while public servants have achieved a lot in this time, there is work to be done by all of us to enable our organisations to become exemplars of innovation.
Where permission to think differently, to be outspoken, to take a chance, to experiment - are embraced.
Where finding fresh ways of delivering services, using new ideas and methods, are welcomed.
This involves engaging with citizens to know their needs and designing solutions that reflect their perspective, using the right resources and multiple solutions.
It involves anticipating change, and fostering mutually beneficial partnerships in our quest to secure long-lasting transformation.
Public service innovation plays a vital role in delivering better, more effective services for our customers, and in supporting national economic and social development.
The government’s Making Innovation Real strategy, and the Civil Service Renewal 2030 Strategy, provide a practical roadmap for how can build on our growing culture of innovation.
The 4 key priority areas in Making Innovation Real provides guidance for public service organisations to anchor innovation in their corporate strategies and business plans.
They show how public service leaders can develop a workforce innovation culture that can flourish.
Staff need the tools and space to collaborate, brainstorm, and share insights into how they can solve work-related problems in a different way.
Similarly, the Civil Service Renewal 2030 Strategy references the need to connect with external innovators - be it in industry, enterprise, research, or academia - to scale up and spread solutions at pace – to achieve our ambition of delivering world-class policy and services in Ireland.
I am looking forward to National Public Service Innovation Week 2022. The week’s events, conferences and seminars are an important showcase for the government to demonstrate how our public service has taken risks, digitised services, and delivered swiftly in times of need.
On Wednesday, we will launch our Public Service Innovation Fund for 2023, a strategic investment vehicle for public servants who have worked on many great projects that have benefitted our citizens.
And on Friday, the Design in Government Conference will feature the launch of customer-centric principles aimed at embedding efficient design techniques in policy and services provided by Government.
It’s great to see so many people gathered in person to discuss how we can champion ongoing innovation and transformation in the Public Service.
I want to thank all our guest speakers today, to the Public Service Transformation Delivery unit of my department for organising National Public Service Week 2022, and to Microsoft Ireland.
My hope is that in the years to come we will look back and marvel at the significant advances our public services have made in providing outstanding value to members of the public.
Finally, I hope you enjoy your day in the real capital, and that you get the chance to sample the many delights our city has to offer you.