eolas 67 by bmfbusiness

Informing Ireland’s decision-makers...

The common thread Grant Thornton’s Conor O’Dwyer

HSE Chief Nursing and Midwifery

Information Officer

Loretto Grogan discusses digital capability

University of Manchester professor Mairéad Pratschke on the pedagogical potential of gen AI

DG COMM Deputy Head of Unit

Thierry Boulangé explains the EU AI Act

Conference 2025 Date for your diary!

Thursday 20 March 2025 Croke Park, Dublin

eolas Magazine is organising its tenth annual Housing Ireland Conference, which will examine the key challenges facing Ireland’s housing policymakers and senior practitioners across the sector. The conference will take place on 20 March 2025 in Croke Park, Dublin.

Sponsorship and exhibition opportunities

There are a number of opportunities for interested organisations to become involved with this conference as sponsors or exhibitors. This is an excellent way for organisations to raise their profile with a key audience of senior decision-makers from across the housing sector in Ireland. For further information on how your organisation can benefit, contact Ciarán Galway on 01 661 3755 or email ciaran.galway@eolasmagazine.ie

Digital Events Publications

Collective failure...

One year ago, in November 2023, this column commended the foreign policy approach of Ireland tows.

Ciarán Galway Editor

November/December 2024

Editorial

Ciarán Galway, Editor ciaran.galway@eolasmagazine.ie

David Whelan david.whelan@eolasmagazine.ie

Fiona McCarthy fiona.mccarthy@eolasmagazine.ie

Joshua Murray joshua.murray@eolasmagazine.ie

Matthew O’Hara matthew.ohara@@eolasmagazine.ie

Advertising

Sam Tobin sam.tobin@eolasmagazine.ie

Design

Gareth Duffy, Head of Design gareth.duffy@eolasmagazine.ie

Jamie Hogan jamie.hogan@eolasmagazine.ie

Events

Lynda Millar lynda.millar@eolasmagazine.ie

Become a subscriber!

Annual subscriptions:

€30.00 + €5.00 P&P

Contact: Sharon Morrison Email: subscriptions@eolasmagazine.ie Online: www.eolasmagazine.ie/subscribe

eolas Magazine

Owen McQuade, Publisher owen.mcquade@eolasmagazine.ie bmf Business Services

Clifton House Lower Fitzwilliam Street Dublin, D02 XT91 Tel: 01 661 3755 Web: www.eolasmagazine.ie X: @eolasmagazine

Decarbonisation of assets report

72 The Public Sector Climate Action Mandate

76 CAP24: The framework for decarbonising Ireland’s assets

78 HSE’s path to decarbonisation

Housing report

80 Minister of State Alan Dillon TD on transforming the planning system

90 Defining the annual housing delivery target

94 Dara Turnbull, Housing Europe: Irish housing context relative to Europe

106 A closer look at Sinn Féin’s alternative housing plan

110 Budget 2025 and housing

126 ESRI establishes link between credit availability and rising house prices

matters arising

Justin Kelly named Deputy Garda Commissioner

Offshore Wind Skills Action Plan launched

cúpla focal

“We are tpe...”

António Guterres, Secretary-General, United Nations, on a UN report that the global temperature is set to rise by 3oC by the end of the century.

“ThereIsraeli lives.”

Former President Mary Robinson

“What I’d like all the parties to do in .”

Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar

Planning Act signed into law

The Planning and Development Act 2024, cited as the most comprehensive reform to Ireland’s planning system in over 20 years, has been passed in spite of criticism from opposition TDs that the legislation was “rushed” through the Houses of the Oireachtas, and the consideration of President Michael D Higgins of referring the legislation to the Supreme Court.

General election

cover story

The common thread

eolas Magazine sits down with Conor O’Dwyer, Partner and Government and Public Sector Lead in Grant Thornton’s consulting practice, to discuss common challenges shared by clients across the public sector, the evolution in professional services, large-scale transformation programmes, and ambitions for 2025.

Overlooking the River Liffey and the key landmarks dotting the Dublin quays, there is an anticipation in Grant Thornton Ireland headquarters that the professional services company is standing on the precipice of a new world.

Discussing the much-reported merger between Grant Thornton’s US business and Grant Thornton Ireland, O’Dwyer reflects on the “exciting period of evolution and of growth” over the past 16 months.

“Our Chief Executive – Steve Tennant – is driving fundamental structural changes within the business,” he says, adding:

“Our unification with Grant Thornton’s US business will open a whole world of opportunities for our people and additional value for our clients.”

Experience

Having joined Grant Thornton as a partner in August 2023, just ahead of Tennant’s appointment, O’Dwyer has spent the entirety of his career delivering challenging projects in the public sector domain. Approaching 20 years of service, he has immersed himself in most spheres of the public sector.

“I have always worked within the confines of the public sector,” he remarks, adding: “My remit has spanned a range of areas from revenue and customs to health, justice, policing, shared services, utilities, social welfare, transport and local government.

“I spent three years working in a similar space in the UK, though on a larger scale, given the different demographic context. This provided an international perspective in terms of how government works beyond this island.”

“The common thread of my career,” O’Dwyer observes, “has been the successful delivery of large-scale public

service transformation projects; guiding clients through those challenging, often multiyear endeavours in both Ireland and the UK.”

Move

Asked why he opted to join Grant Thornton just over one year ago, the Government and Public Sector Lead emphasises the “exciting growth phase” which the company has now entered, allied to an opportunity to shape its public sector business “in the way it should look and feel, and serve clients”.

“For me, the opportunity was clear. Grant Thornton’s government and public sector business was in an early phase of development, with exceptionally talented people, real ambition and imminent plans to pivot to an industry-led approach. As such, there was a compelling opportunity to lean into the market and offer something different.”

USP

Discussing Grant Thornton’s USP, O’Dwyer opts to relay “what our clients consistently tell us”. The single greatest distinction, he says, is how Grant Thornton works with its clients.

“We are known in the market for being easy to do business with. We are down to earth and do not take ourselves too seriously. We will bring and welcome constructive challenge and always work towards solutions that achieve equilibrium between our insight and that of our clients.”

Grant Thornton knows that the best results always come from working closely with clients. “We work in the spirit of partnership with public sector organisations to deliver differentiated solutions. Unlike our competitors, who will often try to do everything, we regularly partner with other firms where we believe it best serves our clients’ needs. This means we offer a client experience that is different and feels different,” he reasons. Grant Thornton’s hands-on approach means that every solution is designed to be practical and fully aligned with clients’ objectives.

Common challenges

Revisiting the common thread theme, O’Dwyer has established that many of the challenges experienced by Grant Thornton’s government and public sector

“The common thread of my career has been the successful delivery of large-scale public service transformation projects...”

clients share at least three major commonalities when attempting to deliver large-scale transformation programmes. This trend has emerged most strikingly, he observes, over the last 24 months, in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Firstly, aligning with trends in the wider labour market, Grant Thornton’s public sector clients are struggling to attract and retain talent. “Even in scenarios where clients are managing to attract talent, the proportion of new joiners is often greater than desired, with high numbers of experienced personnel moving on, resulting in a deficit of tacit and institutional knowledge. Investing in becoming more process-driven, and less dependent on key individuals, and proper succession planning are the best mitigants,” the Government and Public Sector Lead notes.

This, O’Dwyer explains, is a result of the ‘job for life’ mentality receding, even in a public sector context. “Many young people want a one- or two-year experience on their CV and then they want to experience something new. As such, creating the right employee value propositions to combat this new reality is really important,” he says.

Secondly, our growing population is creating additional demand for the public sector, further exacerbating capacity challenges. Acknowledging that there is no lack of appetite or ambition to undertake large transformative projects in the public sector, O’Dwyer articulates that “sometimes the required capacity and capability is not there to deliver”.

“Continuing to deliver everyday services while getting a large project over the line is a real challenge. That is where Grant Thornton can play a specialist role; providing deep expertise to support clients through capacity and capability challenges.”

Thirdly, there is quite often a tension between delivery and oversight, which can be problematic and slow progress. Spending public funds on large, challenging projects of course brings the need for scrutiny to ensure value for money. While acknowledging the need for accountability and transparency, O’Dwyer believes that there is a balance to be struck to ensure that the checks and balances do not stymy delivery or place cost above value.

Fundamentally, he asserts, the Covid experience demonstrated that when given adequate support and empowered, public servants can and will deliver complicated change at pace.

“The emergency response that the public sector embraced in response to the Covid-19 pandemic debunked the myth that the sector cannot get challenging projects done quickly.

“I was hopeful that some of the practices and behaviours from this period would be sustained post-pandemic, but that has not been the case in my experience. Creating a real sense of urgency is too often a missing ingredient in large programmes.”

Large-scale transformation

Turning to large-scale public sector transformation programmes, O’Dwyer suggests that the most common misstep repeatedly taken by clients is putting too many projects or ambitions on the board – always with good intent.

In other words, very often, ambition can exceed capability and capacity within public service bodies, which tends to foment frustration when change cannot progress at scale, with agility, or at all in some cases.

Conor O’Dwyer, Partner, Consulting, Grant Thornton

“Very predictably, if everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. An organisation can only handle so much change at any one time, and only so much can be outsourced. That is the reality,” he insists.

Instead, he argues, internal talent must symbiotically ally with the external consulting support to unlock “real success”.

“When Grant Thornton’s public sector team applies its deep consulting expertise, whether in programme management, change, or organisational design, we need the client team to provide organisational insight and leadership buy in. When those two elements are in place, that is when transformation takes form. That is when the magic happens,” he notes.

Service evolution

Against this backdrop, and the catalytic impact of the Covid experience, public sector procurement has become more sophisticated in terms of its expectations. This contrasts with O’Dwyer’s early years as a consultant during which professional services was “typically limited to technology support and introducing new systems amid the advent of the internet”.

In contrast, today there is a common understanding that optimising a large digital investment, often necessitates change to organisational structures as new skills are required, and existing roles are radically changed.

“Obviously, new technologies are still being purchased,” O’Dwyer notes, adding, “however, wholesale transformation is being considered more holistically. Previously, it had been more piecemeal. Now, organisations are cognisant of the interconnectedness between technology, their teams, and how they structure themselves. That is a welcome development. Otherwise, the return on investment underdelivers.”

Across the market, he observes, there is a migration away from an “old school ‘time and materials’ way of thinking”. In its place is a healthy conversation around how to use consultants in the ‘right way’ versus the ‘wrong way’.

“Today, Grant Thornton commits to very specific outcomes. In that context, we are happy to accept some risk on our side. Once the client is clear about what must be achieved and Grant Thornton is clear about these expectations, then we can work together.

“Previously, consultants were used in a manner that was simply not conducive to the desired outcomes; burning off a budget, often with the deliverables not stacking up against the investment. Smart buyers are hooking consultants –including via fees – to very specific and tangible outcomes and Grant Thornton welcomes this,” he asserts.

Service evolution

Today, Grant Thornton has a rich audit, accountancy, and tax legacy which remains inhouse. Meanwhile, its consulting and wider advisory business is

relatively new and has grown rapidly in the last five or six years.

First among the services provided by the professional services firm’s consulting business to the public sector is the delivery of large-scale transformation or what it calls ‘transformation excellence’.

Detailing recent successes in the public sector, O’Dwyer references Grant Thornton’s work with a large public safety organisation to modify its operating structures – which had existed for over a century – with the end outcome of making communities safer. “That,” he asserts, “is the apex of transformation excellence.”

Another example he alludes to is the fundamental modernisation and simplification of the systems that pay tens of thousands of public servants, ensuring correct and timely remuneration, with enhanced efficiency for the taxpayer.

The second pillar of Grant Thornton’s consulting service is digital solutionsapplying a business lens to technology. “Grant Thornton is interested in assessing how technology can solve business challenges. That is our differentiator in terms of technology. While we will partner with many different technology and system integration companies, we always have a business perspective at the forefront and will challenge a ‘technology for technology’s sake’ approach.”

In addition, Grant Thornton has a leading suite of sustainability services, tailored to assist organisations with their reporting requirements which are rapidly expanding, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. As articulated above, public procurement is evolving all the time and O’Dwyer describes a steady increase in demand for services to review and rethink organisations and their supply chains to become more sustainable and climate friendly, and to deliver on the Government’s Climate Action Plan.

Finally, Grant Thornton offers strategy and economic advisory, whereby we help organisations with business cases and assess the cost/benefit summary of large-scale investments. At a local government level, for example, we collaborate with city and county councils to assess options in advance of significant investments, ensuring objective analysis of expected returns.

Trends

Reflecting on the wider trends in the professional services market, O’Dwyer assesses that the advent of AI is a significant disrupter, while the market has “gone stale in terms of the cookie cutter approach to business”.

“Technology is an area that requires significant investment just to keep pace with market trends and indeed to stay ahead of our clients’ expectations. I anticipate that the necessary finance will be unlocked to meet our appetite to lean into AI and indeed other emerging technologies,” he projects.

Simultaneously, O’Dwyer contends that the “old world of consultants retreating into a dark room and emerging three months later with a report is long gone”.

Clients now expect much more bespoke and co-created service offerings. Increasingly, they are happy to do much of the work themselves, so teams are often blended. Ultimately, what they are seeking is specialist skills and experiences, including from different industries or geographies.”

In other words, public sector clients want to take ownership of the solutions they seek rather than simply outsourcing them. This is integral, O’Dwyer says, for large-scale transformation programmes where it is “impossible to have consultants design a change programme alone and still feel any sense of ownership”.

One of the positive changes O’Dwyer has observed among government clients specifically is a growing recognition that service delivery must be human-centric. “In DPENDR, for example, there is a tremendous focus on innovation, idea incubation, and grounding services in human centricity,” he comments.

US combination

Late in 2024, it was widely reported that, subject to regulatory approval, Grant Thornton Advisors LLC and Grant Thornton Ireland would merge in early 2025 with the deal backed by a New York City-based private equity firm, New Mountain Capital.

For O’Dwyer, the opportunities unlocked by this unification will reverberate among both Grant Thornton’s people and its clients alike.

“For our people, the integration is an exciting opportunity opening a whole world of new and challenging engagements. From a demographic perspective, many among our workforce are not yet tied to either a mortgage or a family. As such, they are keen to travel to the US and those opportunities will be open to those who want them.

“For our clients, there is a huge opportunity to seamlessly access information and expertise that was harder to retrieve previously. For example, Grant Thornton’s rich educational offering in the United States is something that we can bring much more readily to educational institutions across Ireland. Having that close integration will make a huge difference to the value, insights, and expertise that we can bring to clients on a daily basis,” he determines.

Journey ahead

O’Dwyer describes ambitious plans which will involve growth delivered organically and inorganically. “In the next year, therefore, we will determine what businesses can enhance our own –whether through bringing in new clients or new service offerings. Consequently, I expect that 2025 will bring multiple acquisitions, both in the US and in Ireland.”

Overall, O’Dwyer looks forward to 2025 as a year in which he and his colleagues can get to know their US counterparts.

While Grant Thornton is particularly strong in several sectors of government and public sector, not least justice, education, and health – and these will remain a key focus – there are spheres in which it would like to scale its presence.

For example, the Government and Public Sector Lead traces his company’s endeavours to expand its expertise and capability in housing and infrastructure, while leaning more into the utility space, and particularly energy.

“The energy trilemma – that is energy security, sustainability, and affordability –will be increasingly significant in a world that is experiencing both elevated geopolitical tension and climate instability.

“We work with many of Ireland’s utility companies already in some capacity, but we will deepen our footprint, drawing on the impressive expertise we have both in the US and other geographies in the Grant Thornton network,” O’Dwyer anticipates.

Purpose

Turning to the search for ‘meaning’ as a vehicle for ambition, the Government and Public Sector Lead emphasises the contribution his team makes to public service on behalf of the State and its citizens, and the intergenerational benefit unlocked by enhanced public services.

“Ultimately, what gets me and my team out of bed in the morning – and what has kept me in the public sector – is a sense of purpose; namely helping the public sector deliver better services on behalf of citizens.

“It is about meaning. That is what motivates us at Grant Thornton. Getting it right really matters and that is why we are always willing to go above and beyond to ensure that programmes and projects are successful,” he concludes.

Profile: Conor O’Dwyer

Originally from Clontarf and now living in Glasnevin, Conor is husband to Louise and father of three girls. A devoted sports fan, he tries to get over to north London as frequently as possible to watch Arsenal FC. Otherwise, he spends much of his weekends “usually on the sidelines of multiple GAA pitches”. A proud northsider and member of Na Fianna, he also coaches one of his girl’s teams. Beyond that, he likes to travel and get to the gym.

Interventions needed in development of offshore wind skills

Public visibility of training provision and job opportunities are critical to ensure Ireland can match up its growing need for skills to meet the ambitious demands of the offshore wind industry.

Published in October 2024 by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, the Offshore Wind Skills Action Plan 2024 is an output of the skills and workforce workstream of the Offshore Wind Energy Programme, which outlines the activities required to drive delivery of offshore wind targets in Ireland.

Recognising that Ireland’s training provision and the potential gaps in provision could hinder the development of the long-term target

to deliver 37GW of installed offshore wind by 2050, the action plan recommends the Government collaborates closely with the Irish offshore wind industry, relevant government departments, and thirdparty course providers for any intervention in skills development.

Building Our Potential: Ireland’s Offshore Wind Skills and Talent Needs by BVG Associates and other stakeholders had previously identified that 33 of 42 job roles anticipated to be key in helping to develop the emerging offshore wind

industry faced significant recruitment challenges. The Offshore Wind Skills Action Plan 2024 consulted with industry to understand the essential and desirable qualifications and experience sought for each of the 33 job roles.

Recommendations under the action plan are split into four thematic categories, namely:

• attracting experienced workers to meet immediate skills needs;

• addressing provision gaps;

• promoting long-term workforce growth through attracting inexperienced hires; and

• adapting skills response to meet emerging needs.

Project phase

Of the total FTE year demand to 2040 for essential qualifications across all project phases, 54 per cent are degree level qualifications and 46 per cent are FET and PD qualifications. In contrast, of the total FTE year demand to 2040 for desirable qualifications across all project phases, 25 per cent are degree-level qualifications and 75 per cent are FET and PD qualifications.

The action plan indicates the development and project management phase of an offshore wind farm as having the largest demand for workers requiring degree level qualifications, with almost 60 per cent of this demand being for engineering degrees, where there is an estimated 11,000 FTE year demand to 2040.

In contrast, the operations, maintenance and service (OMS) phase of an offshore wind farm has the largest demand for workers requiring FET and PD qualifications. According to analysis, the manufacturing phase has a relatively low demand for workers requiring degree level qualifications, but about 4,300 FTE years requiring FET and PD qualifications.

2040

Out to 2040, job roles with an essential degree qualification have a

requirement of some 12.000 FTE years, with the growing need for skilled workers increasing as the offshore wind industry expands. The action plan states that engineering degrees continue to dominate as the largest grouping needed. Electrical, environmental and planning, STEM, and non-specific degree classifications are deemed as a “moderate” level of demand at 38 per cent of total FTE demand, while computer science and automation maritime and seafaring and supply chain and logistics classifications have the least level of demand, at 2 per cent of the total FTE demand.

Recommending that the Government collaborates closely with “the Irish offshore wind industry, relevant government departments and third-party course providers” for any intervention in skills development within Ireland, the action plan suggests that this approach “will help to align the timing of intervention with the demand of offshore wind projects and maximise benefits to the Irish offshore wind industry”.

Amongst its recommendations, the action plan says that in relation to attracting experienced hires to meet immediate skills need the provision of “short, targeted courses such as micro-credentials to provide a grounding in offshore wind skills” could assist experienced career movers to enter the offshore wind industry, while informed industry campaigns could attract experienced offshore wind workers, including Irish nationals, working abroad to relocate to Ireland.

On addressing potential provision gaps, the action plan suggests

collaboration with HE and FE providers to raise awareness of the opportunities and training needs of the offshore wind industry, alongside work with industry and skills providers to assess the most effective interventions.

Encouraging the offshore wind industry to take on more staff without relevant industry experience, the introduction of offshore-specific modules to relevant higher education courses, and outreach programmes to engage primary and secondary level education students are some of the recommendations for promoting long-term workforce growth through attracting inexperienced hires.

Finally, the action plan recommends that the Department should closely monitor and promote the need for short, targeted courses such as microcredentials in areas of emerging skills need as the industry grows.

ORESS II

In October 2024, the Government published the terms and conditions of Ireland's second offshore wind auction under the Offshore Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (ORESS), setting the framework for an auction for twoway CFD support for a 900 MW offshore wind farm to be developed in the first site of the South Coast DMAP. The Tonn Nua Auction, which is off the cost of County Waterford, is expected to open in Q1 2025, with the bidding phase to take place in Q2 2025.

Digitalising the decarbonisation of Ireland’s energy system

Hitachi Energy hosted a round table discussion with key stakeholders from across the energy sector to examine how the twin transitions of digitalisation and decarbonisation can transform Ireland’s energy system.

How can enhanced digitalisation accelerate the energy transition in Ireland?

Round table discussion hosted by

Carmel Owens

One of the biggest challenges is increasing grid capacity in the f

Rohan Kapoor

Rohan Kapoor is CIO at Northern Ireland Electricity Networks and an accomplished technology leader. He specialises in strategy, digital transformation, and cost optimisation within global portfolios. In addition to being an Engineer and MBA, he holds advanEMC, and Sungard Availability Services. At

“Driving digital transformation requires strong leadership from government, utilities, and regulators.

Ruairi Williamson

“The International Energy Agency projects that by 2050, the total size. Carmel Owens

“Digitalisation is essential for managing modern renewable powered grids.” Rohan Kapoor

“The energy industry is ripe for digital disruption. Simon Ludlam

No consensus on growth forecasts

A divergence in economic growth forecasts highlights economic uncertainty driven by Ireland’s reliance on multinational investment.

Different bodies have made different projections for economic growth in Ireland, ranging from the European Commission’s projection of a technical recession to moderate, to steady growth forecasts outlined by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and the Central bank of Ireland.

The European Commission’s Autumn 2024 Economic Forecast anticipates a GDP contraction of 0.5 per cent in 2024, followed by robust recovery in 2025 (4.0 per cent). The negative outlook for 2024 is attributed to a steep downturn in the State’s multinational sectors, particularly ICT and pharmaceuticals, which are heavily exposed to global market demand.

The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), however, projects a more optimistic scenario for underlying economic activity, with modified domestic demand (MDD) expected to grow by 2.7 per cent in 2024, driven by consumer spending, government investment, and robust employment levels. The ESRI’s approach to growth projections emphasise domestic demand, which it argues is insulated from multinational sector volatility to some extent.

The Central Bank’s forecast aligns closely with that of the ESRI, projecting modest but steady growth in MDD and anticipating inflation to stabilise at approximately 3.0 per cent, slightly higher than the Commission’s estimates. Their outlook is premised on strong labour market fundamentals and easing inflation pressures, which are expected to support household consumption.

GDP vs MDD

The GDP metric includes the contributions of multinationals, which dominate Ireland’s export sectors. Given the expected global downturn in the ICT and pharmaceutical sectors, the Commission’s forecast is more negative. MDD, on the other hand, isolates domestic economic drivers, leading ESRI and the Central Bank to project more robust growth.

Variations in inflation assumptions impact disposable incomes and consumption forecasts. The Commission sees subdued inflation, while domestic bodies account for stronger wage growth keeping consumption buoyant.

Multinational corporations account for a significant share of Ireland’s GDP, but their activities often have limited spillover effects on the domestic economy. This difference creates divergence between projections that emphasise MDD versus GDP.

The European Commission incorporates broader European and global economic risks, such as potential recessions in the UK and eurozone, leading to a more cautious forecast. However, the ESRI is more optimistic about Ireland’s ability to decouple from these risks due to strong public finances and resilient consumption.

While both GDP and MDD-based projections provide valuable insights, MDD offers a more reliable measure of the economic activity that directly impacts Irish households and domestic businesses.

European Commission’s macroeconomic forecast for Ireland

and Socia l Re search Institute (E SR I)

Comm ission

Insulating multinational volatility

As multinational sector outputs are driven by global market forces and can distort GDP, focusing on MDD reduces the noise and provides a clearer picture of domestic economic health.

Strong labour market conditions, with unemployment at a low 4.4 per cent, and continued wage growth suggest sustained household spending power, bolstering ESRI and Central Bank projections.

Ireland’s strong fiscal position enables counter-cyclical investments in infrastructure and social supports, which will cushion against external shocks and support domestic demand.

However, it is important to consider downside risks emphasised by the

2024 Growth Projection (%)

European Commission. For instance, if multinational downturns deepen with the new administration in the United States, spillover effects on employment and tax revenues could indirectly impact domestic demand. Furthermore, rising geopolitical tensions and possible recessions in key trading partners (such as the UK and the Eurozone) could challenge even optimistic domestic scenarios.

Analysis

The divergence in projections for Ireland’s economic growth in 2024 underscores the importance of contextualising metrics. While the European Commission’s cautious stance reflects risks tied to Ireland’s open economy and multinational dependencies, the optimism of ESRI and the Central Bank is grounded in the resilience of domestic demand and the

labour market.

For decision-makers, projections emphasising MDD growth of 2.7 per cent in 2024 are arguably more reflective of the realities influencing households and businesses. However, when it comes to revenue raising, the GDP figure is of more interest, as a lower GDP figure correlates to lower corporation tax revenue, on which the State is reliant.

However, the differentiation in projections highlights the instability of Ireland’s economic model, and points to future challenges, especially if the new administration in the United States is to impose tariffs as it has promised to do, meaning that many of the multinationals forming the backbone of the Irish economy may be forced to restructure if they are to continue business in the United States.

The all-island opportunities in the circular economy

InterTradeIreland’s recent research on the circular economy shows how working together across the border can drive solutions at scale, as InterTradeIreland’s Research Manager, Stuart Mathieson explains.

Businesses today have to focus on major challenges like sustainability and skills shortages to remain competitive and drive long-term growth.

The circular economy is often thought of as an environmental or sustainability initiative. However, its economic benefits, particularly for businesses and the wider economy, are equally compelling and deserve greater attention. At its most basic, the circular economy is a way of doing business that focuses on reducing waste by reusing, recycling, and repurposing materials. Instead of the linear ‘take, make, dispose’ model, it keeps resources in circulation for as long as possible, retaining and even creating value while protecting the environment.

The figures illustrate the potential. In Ireland, a 5 per cent improvement in resource efficiency across the economy would deliver over €2.3 billion annually. Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, circular economy activity in priority sectors could contribute an additional £474 million in gross value added (GVA). These statistics demonstrate the untapped opportunities businesses and policymakers alike must address to unlock significant value.

At InterTradeIreland, we recently published a report identifying circular economy opportunities on the island of Ireland. The findings underscore how circular principles can influence key areas, including resource efficiency, waste management, skills development, innovation, and climate change. A key

takeaway is that resource efficiency, including industrial symbiosis – the use of waste from one production process as raw material for another – will play a crucial role in achieving carbon reduction targets. For an island of this size, collaboration between both jurisdictions is essential to reach the economies of scale that will allow the circular economy to compete against the deeply embedded linear economy.

For instance, in the furniture manufacturing industry, sourcing materials already in circulation on the island, rather than importing virgin raw materials from abroad, is not just more sustainable – over the long term it is also more cost-effective. With global trade dynamics shifting, including the

(L-R) Stuart Mathieson, Research Manager InterTradeIreland; Margaret Hearty, Chief Executive InterTradeIreland; Brenda Burke, Director at the Department for the Economy; Niall McLoughlin, Principal Officer, Department of the Environment Climate and Communications; and Amanda Smyth Programme Manager for the Dublin-Belfast Economic Corridor.

“Across the island there are many shared policy priorities and economic opportunities that can best be addressed by maximising collaboration with partners..”

Stuart Mathieson, Research Manager, InterTradeIreland

possibility of tariffs under an incoming US administration, local sourcing has never been more important for businesses seeking to protect supply chains and reduce costs.

Our analysis identifies construction, the bioeconomy, and advanced manufacturing as critical sectors for implementing circular economy practices. By adopting these principles, businesses can achieve significant cost savings, develop innovative products, and reduce their carbon emissions. However, the report also highlights the need for stronger collaboration between policymakers across the island to maximise these opportunities. Joint initiatives, such as harmonising waste regulations, establishing green public procurement frameworks, and creating a shared resource matching service, are essential to realise the full potential of the circular economy.

Both Ireland and Northern Ireland align with the European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan, providing a framework for a consistent approach to circular economy practices. This alignment presents a significant opportunity for collaboration, particularly in areas such as public procurement, where both jurisdictions recognise its potential to drive innovation and skill development in SMEs.

As part of these efforts, InterTradeIreland has established the All-Island Circular Economy Forum, bringing together government departments, agencies, and key stakeholders. The forum’s inaugural meeting laid the groundwork for ambitious plans, including exploring the feasibility of an allisland resource matching service to connect industries with available materials and reduce waste. The forum will continue to meet throughout 2025, incorporating a broader range of participants to ensure a diverse and representative approach.

However, more must be done to address barriers, including waste classification issues. Current regulations make it difficult to reclassify waste as a reusable resource, which can discourage businesses from engaging in circular practices. Misaligned waste regulations between jurisdictions further complicate cross-border collaboration, leading to inefficiencies such as sending and sourcing materials from Britain instead of neighbouring counties on the island. Working together on legislation that eases end of waste and transfrontier shipment difficulties, alongside providing clearer guidance to businesses, would remove significant obstacles and unlock new opportunities.

With the right policy support and collaborative action, the circular economy presents a transformative opportunity for the island of Ireland. By prioritising innovation, resource reuse,

and cross-sector collaboration, businesses can reduce environmental impacts while boosting growth and profitability.

InterTradeIreland’s research and initiatives, such as the AllIsland Circular Economy Forum, demonstrate the value of a collaborative approach to addressing shared challenges and seizing economic opportunities. Policymakers must continue to work together to enable a seamless circular economy that benefits businesses, communities, and the environment.

Together, we can create an island where waste is no longer a problem, but a resource—and where the circular economy drives sustainability, resilience, and prosperity for future generations.

Case study

InterTradeIreland’s report on Identifying Circular Economy Business Opportunities on the island of Ireland recommends sharing success stories from SMEs that have adopted circular guide economy principles as essential to inspire and other businesses. The research has a number of case studies that translate high-level discourse on the circular economy into actionable strategies linked to key sectors.

For example, InterTradeIreland has worked with BiaSol in County Offaly. The company takes spent grains from the brewing industry and uses them to make a fibre-rich ingredient which is now available in supermarkets across Ireland. BiaSol participated in an InterTradeIreland Synergy initiative and as a result were introduced to a new investor.

Niamh Dooley from BiaSol said: “By 2050, we need to increase our food production by 60 per cent and with climate change on top of that, we need to do it in a circular way. One-third of all food produced, ends up as waste, and that’s mostly at the manufacturing level. There is definitely lots of potential for SMEs in various sectors to get involved in the circular economy. It takes work, but it’s worth it. We’ve also found that circular principles are attractive to investors too.”

Read the report on InterTradeIreland’s website, Identifying Circular Economy Business Opportunities on the Island of Ireland.

https://research.intertradeireland.com/circular-economybusiness-opportunities

W: www.intertradeireland.com

Ireland has a €56 billion trade surplus

New figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that Ireland exported more than €196 billion worth of goods and imported €140 billion worth of goods in 2023.

The CSO state the EU accounted for more than €81billion of Ireland’s exports, while the US was the largest single export partner with exports of €54 billion.

The State’s biggest import partner in 2023 was the UK, accounting for €26 billion of Irish imports, but the UK’s share of total imports has fallen from 34 per cent to 19 per cent over the past 25 years.

The figures also show €22 billion worth of exports were sent to Asia in 2023, and one-fifth of total Irish imports, of which China accounted for €9 billion. Ireland imported €5.7 billion more from Asia than the country exported in 2023.

Moreover, Ireland exported €1.8 billion of goods to Africa in 2023 and imported €1 billion. €868 million was exported to South America and almost €1 billion to Oceania in 2023, the CSO added.

The CSO also states that exports of chemicals and related products accounted for almost two-thirds of total exports, with a value of €126 billion. Machinery and transport equipment accounted for 13 per cent of exports and food and live animals were €14.4 billion, or 7 per cent of the total, while machinery and transport made up 38 per cent of total imports, with a value of over €53 billion, including imports of aircrafts.

Imports of chemicals and related products accounted for 28 per cent, while food and live animals imports accounted for 7 per cent, the CSO added.

While these numbers show that overall, the State is exporting more than it is importing, (a positive metric in global trade), the value of Irish exports declined by 6 per cent in the first nine months of 2023 compared to the previous year according to the CSO.

However the CSO qualified this “against the backdrop of a broader global slowdown in trade, brought about by rising interest rates and declining consumer demand”.

In September 2023, the State exported €16 billion worth of goods around the world, down €3.5 billion or 18 per cent compared with September 2022. Good exports fell by a total of €9.7 billion over the first nine months of the year, a 6 per cent drop-off from the same period of last year with a notable 15 per cent decline in exports to the US.

Commenting on the release, Ciarán Counihan, statistician in the International Trade in Goods Division, said: “In 2023, Ireland exported more than €196 billion worth of goods and imported €140 billion. Exports of Chemicals and Related Products accounted for almost two-thirds of total exports, with a value of more than €126 billion.”

Plan of action against potential cyber emergencies

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has unveiled a whole-of-government emergency plan in the event of future cyber attacks.

NPF Revision

Covalen supporting public sector partnerships

Suzanne Dolan, Managing Director of Covalen talks to eolas

Magazine about Covalen’s plans for partnership growth in the public sector and the importance of a collegial workplace culture in underpinning these ambitious plans for growth.

Over two decades, Covalen, a managed services provider, has grown into a household name across a range of sectors in Ireland.

Renowned for its focus on building strong client relationships, delivering exceptional services, and fostering a workplace culture rooted in collaboration and mutual respect, Covalen has positioned itself as a reliable partner for organisations seeking to scale operations effectively and efficiently.

Dolan’s journey with Covalen is one of dedication, persistence, and a clear focus on team dynamics. In this time, the company has grown steadily, guided by values orientated around teamwork, innovation, and continuous improvement. Her story, along with Covalen’s evolution, highlights the company’s approach to solving challenges, empowering employees, and setting long-term goals for sustainable growth.

The evolution of Covalen

Covalen was established with a mission to deliver flexible and scalable solutions for businesses. Founded in 1998, the company has expanded its scope, providing managed services to clients in sectors such as healthcare, technology, and finance. The organisation is structured to meet the diverse needs of its clients, from scaling resources and operational support to end-to-end process management.

Dolan, who has been with Covalen from the beginning, has been instrumental in shaping the company’s direction. Her leadership style emphasises collaboration and a shared sense of purpose, though she is keen to emphasise the integral role played by her wider team.

“Covalen’s success is not about any one individual; it is about the team,” Dolan explains. “We work together to achieve common goals, and we are always looking for ways to improve and grow.”

One of the company’s distinguishing traits is its adaptability. “Covalen prides itself on understanding each client’s unique needs and tailoring its services accordingly. This flexibility has allowed the company to build lasting partnerships and deliver measurable results,” she says.

Covalen’s core values

At the heart of Covalen’s operations are values that guide the company’s decisions and interactions.

“These values – be brave, be proud, be wise, and exceed – are woven into the fabric of the organisation,” Dolan says.

“We believe in working as a team, not just within Covalen but also with our clients. Our approach is always collaborative. We aim to enhance our clients’ existing strengths and help them achieve their goals.”

These principles extend to the company’s internal culture, where employees are treated as valued contributors to Covalen’s success. The company’s workforce, which represents over 90 nationalities, is a testament to its inclusive approach. This diversity, Dolan notes, is one of Covalen’s strengths, bringing a range of perspectives and skills to the table.

Client success and industry reach

Covalen’s focus on client success has been a cornerstone of its operations. By providing customised managed services, the company enables its clients to concentrate on their core objectives

while Covalen takes care of operational delivery needs. This approach has proven successful across various industries, including healthcare, technology, and finance.

A notable example of Covalen’s impact is its work with the Health Service Executive (HSE) over the Covid-19 pandemic with contact tracing and vaccination support.

On the role played by Covalen through the pandemic, Dolan says: “We were able to get 100 people together at short notice, working in a socially distanced manner and deliver advice to the public. I was especially proud because this was a time of great uncertainty and our team stepped up to the mark in a way we can all be proud of.”

Through its broad range of clients, the company has played a vital role in addressing capacity challenges and streamlining operations, demonstrating its ability to “deliver under pressure”. “We take the time to understand our clients’ challenges and provide solutions that make a difference,” Dolan says.

Covalen’s partnerships often begin with relatively small-scale engagements that grow organically over time. “We typically start with a core team and build from there,” Dolan explains. “This approach allows us to gain a deep understanding of our clients’ needs and establish trust.”

Talent retention and acquisition

A key element of Covalen’s success is its strong position to source and hire top talent as part of the Cpl Group, which specialises in recruitment and talent solutions. This partnership has enabled Covalen to onboard highly skilled professionals from around the world.

“Our collaboration with Cpl has been invaluable,” the Managing Director notes. “It has the expertise and resources to find the right talent for our clients’ needs, whether it is for a short-term project or a long-term engagement.”

Cpl’s ability to source talent from diverse backgrounds has been particularly beneficial, allowing Covalen to maintain a workforce that reflects the global nature of its clients’ operations.

Onboarding and scaling

One of Covalen’s standout capabilities is its ability to onboard with agility and scale quickly to meet client demands. This is achieved through a combination of experience, well-defined processes, and a deep understanding of operational requirements.

“We have built systems that make it easy to onboard new employees and scale teams efficiently,” Dolan explains. “But we also focus on retention, ensuring that our employees see Covalen as a place where they can grow their careers.”

Covalen’s approach to onboarding includes clear processes that are regularly reviewed and updated. “We assess our processes every three months to ensure they are still effective,” Dolan says. “This continuous improvement mindset helps us stay ahead of the curve.”

Employee empowerment and retention

Dolan firmly believes that a company’s success is tied to the wellbeing and positive growth trajectory of its employees. At Covalen, she says that professional development is a priority, pointing to the fact that employees are offered opportunities to enhance their skills and take on new challenges, fostering a sense of progression and achievement.

The company also encourages employee involvement in decision-making. Employee-led committees and focus groups provide a platform for employees to share their insights and contribute to Covalen’s direction. “We want our employees to feel that their voices are heard and valued,” Dolan says.

This supportive environment has led to impressive employee retention rates, with some team members having been with Covalen for nearly 30 years. “Our team’s longevity is one of my proudest achievements,” Dolan says. “It is a testament to the culture we have built, a culture of respect, collaboration, and shared success.”

Collaborative leadership

Dolan’s leadership style is characterised by humility and a focus on collective success, reiterating that many of Covalen’s achievements are the result of the dedication and talent of her team, which she says emanates from the company’s collaborative culture. “I am

“We take the time to understand our clients’ challenges and provide solutions that make a difference.”

Suzanne Dolan, Managing Director, Covalen

fortunate to work with an incredible group of people who make everything we do possible” .

Her approach to leadership, she states, is informed by her personal values, which emphasise family and community. Dolan, who comes from a large family, draws parallels between her upbringing and her role at Covalen. “In a big family, you learn the importance of teamwork and pitching in,” she reflects.

As Covalen continues its journey, the company remains committed to its core values and mission. With a focus on client success, employee empowerment, and sustainable growth, Covalen is wellpositioned to navigate the challenges and opportunities of the future.

Dolan’s leadership, grounded in collaboration and a genuine care for people, has been instrumental in shaping Covalen’s identity. As the company looks ahead to its next chapter, Dolan states that it does so with the confidence that comes from a “strong foundation and a clear vision for the future”.

Vision

Covalen has ambitious plans for growth. Over the next five years, the company aims to double its business and expand its footprint within Ireland. A key focus area is the public sector, where Covalen sees significant opportunities to make a meaningful impact.

“Our work with the HSE demonstrated to us what is possible when we apply our expertise to public sector challenges,” Dolan says. “There is a real desire among our team to do more work that benefits the community.”

In addition to expanding its client base, Covalen plans to continue investing in its employees and refining its processes. These efforts are aimed at ensuring the company remains a trusted partner for clients and a great place to work.

Suzanne Dolan has been Managing Director of Covalen since 2019. She says that, while traveling around the world, she discovered a love for working in the world of managed services. She also says that she has benefitted from being on this journey for the majority of her career, having the opportunity to co-create excellence with many fortune 500 companies, and is dedicated to delivering for her clients, which she states is “the core focus for my team and myself”.

issues eolas

Comparing income inequality on the island of Ireland

An overreliance on the public sector as a source of employment is contributing to a higher level of average wages in the Republic than in Northern Ireland, while income inequality is broadly similar in the two jurisdictions, research from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has asserted.

Despite having similar Gini coefficients –the standard measure of income inequality – the ESRI study, published in October 2024, reveals deeper structural distinctions between the two jurisdictions. Income inequality in the Republic, with a Gini coefficient of 0.28 after taxes and transfers, is slightly higher than Northern Ireland’s at 0.26, yet “as seemingly similar income distributions can come about for different underlying reasons,” the ESRI analysis shows the significant role of divergent economic and social dynamics.

The Republic’s relatively high wage inequality reflects both the opportunities and challenges of a private sector-driven economy, while Northern Ireland’s flatter wage structure is shaped by a greater reliance on public-sector employment, which “provides a higher tax burden for very high income families” but also limits the region’s wage growth potential relative to the private sector in the Republic.

The labour force in the Republic of Ireland benefits from a younger and more highly educated population, with a strong supply of talent feeding into high-wage industries. A robust private sector –driven by multinational corporations, particularly in the technology and pharmaceutical sectors – has fuelled substantial economic growth. This structure has helped increase income levels, yet also brought greater wage disparity.

In contrast, the ESRI states that Northern Ireland’s workforce is “generally older and less educated,” with fewer high-wage opportunities in the private sector. Publicsector employment is more prominent, which, while stabilising wages, limits private-sector wage growth and economic mobility. The ESRI notes: “Just 23 per cent of adults in Northern Ireland have tertiary education, while the comparative figure for Ireland is 47 per cent,” underscoring the structural

limitations Northern Ireland faces in creating access to high-wage employment opportunities.

Differences in education and labour market participation have particularly pronounced impacts on income inequality. In Ireland, the greater prevalence of tertiary education means that many adults can pursue high-paying jobs, reducing baseline inequality by enabling more people to move out of lowincome brackets. Northern Ireland’s lower education levels, combined with higher rates of economic inactivity, restrict income-earning potential for a large segment of the population. The ESRI report suggests that improving workforce skills and educational access in Northern Ireland could be pivotal in bridging the income gap.

The report also explores how each region’s tax-benefit system shapes income distribution. The Republic’s tax

system is more progressive, imposing a greater tax burden on top earners and effectively reducing income inequality. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland’s tax structure is comparatively lighter on high earners but compensates with a farreaching means-tested benefits system, which the ESRI estimates “covers around 50 per cent of households, compared to 25 per cent in [the Republic of] Ireland”.

This broad social safety net cushions, the ESRI asserts, protects low-income households against poverty, but also underscores Northern Ireland’s lower average income base and greater reliance on income supports. While the Republic’s tax system reduces inequality at the top, Northern Ireland’s benefits structure plays a critical role for lowincome families, helping to mitigate inequality within the region.

For policymakers in Northern Ireland, these findings highlight potential areas for strategic reform. A key takeaway is that increasing educational attainment and workforce skills could significantly impact income inequality, as a more skilled workforce would expand access to highwage jobs, reduce dependency on lowincome employment, and increase overall productivity. Supporting this focus on upskilling and education, the ESRI notes, would have benefits in the long term in “reducing polarisation in the distribution of earnings and reducing inequality in market income”.

Additionally, the paper argues that policies to stimulate the private sector, particularly high-value industries, could help diversify the wage structure in Northern Ireland. The promotion of sectors such as technology, renewable energy, and advanced manufacturing would not only enhance wage competitiveness but also reduce Northern Ireland’s dependency on public sector roles. Gradual adjustments toward a more progressive tax system could also increase redistribution from top earners, while expanded benefits could address income needs at the lower end of the income spectrum more effectively.

Cross-border policy coordination presents another area of potential benefit. Given the close economic ties and shared social interests between the regions, cooperative efforts in education, skills development, and strategic investment could strengthen labour mobility and economic resilience on both sides of the border.

Private-public sector employment

North-south income inequality (Gini coefficient)

Average monthly income (€)

Source: ESRI/CSO/NISRA

For example, a coordinated approach to workforce development and sectoral investment could help bridge economic gaps while respecting the unique contexts of each jurisdiction. The ESRI’s findings suggest that as the island explores increased economic cooperation, “any convergence in the future between the taxbenefit systems… may have a limited impact on income inequality due to opposing forces in the tax and benefit system.” However, more broadly, such alignment could lead to mutual benefits, enhancing regional stability and fostering a more cohesive economic environment.

The ESRI’s report sheds light on how the structure of the two economies have –albeit in subtly different manners – driven income inequality across the island of Ireland. While the two regions have broadly similar levels of inequality, there is both a higher standard of living and significantly higher average earnings in the Republic, which correlates with the significantly relatively larger source of public sector employment in Northern Ireland. 0102030405060708090

The graduated response of the Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA)

There are over 300,000 companies registered in Ireland. Companies are governed by the Companies Act 2014, an enormous piece of legislation which contains 1,648 sections.

In these sections, there are close to 400 specific criminal offences, known as category offences, ranging from minor category 4 (Class A fine) to the most serious category 1 (where a conviction on indictment can result in a term of imprisonment of up to 10 years or a fine of up to €500,000 or both).

There is also a range of civil enforcement measures which are available under the 2014 Act. For example, directors of companies can be restricted or even disqualified from acting as a director of any company. Companies can be compelled to produce documents if there is an offence suspected, or they may be involuntarily struck off the register of companies.

The Companies Act 2014 is one of the largest pieces of legislation on the Irish statute books. The question arises – how are breaches of company law policed?

The

enforcer

The CEA is an independent statutory body in Ireland responsible for enforcing any breach of the Companies Act 2014. It operates under a graduated and proportionate response framework, which means it takes a flexible approach to enforcement actions, tailoring them to the seriousness of the act of noncompliance.

The graduated enforcement policy allows the CEA to take an appropriate response to breaches of company law.

Persistent offenders may face more stringent enforcement measures than a less serious offence or a first-time offence. This approach ensures that the CEA’s resources are used effectively and that appropriate penalties are imposed.

The CEA’s directorates include Criminal Enforcement, Civil Enforcement, Legal, Legal and Policy, Finance and ICT, Digital Investigations and Analytics, Governance and Support Operations, and Insolvency Supervision. Members of An Garda Síochána are seconded to the CEA, where they work with digital forensic experts, accountants and in-house legal counsel.

The CEA’s graduated enforcement response

For some breaches of company law, the CEA can resort to administrative measures. These include:

1. Warning letters: A formal warning letter is sent to the company or individual outlining the specific non-compliance and the potential consequences of continued non-compliance. This serves as a clear message that the CEA is aware of the issue and expects it to be rectified.

2. Statutory direction: In cases where noncompliance persists, the CEA may issue a statutory direction, formally requiring the company or individual to take specific actions (for example, call an annual general meeting of a company). Failure to comply with a statutory direction can lead to further enforcement action.

For other breaches, the CEA may resort to civil enforcement actions. These include:

1. Disqualification orders: The CEA can apply to the courts to disqualify directors from holding office for a specified period, usually around five years. This is a serious sanction that can be imposed for misconduct such as fraud in relation to the company, or a serious breach of someone’s duty in their position as officer of the company. Disqualification for five years (or such shorter or longer period as a Court may order) is automatic if someone is convicted on indictment for any offence under the Companies Act.

2. Compliance orders: The CEA has the power to apply to a court to direct a company to remedy a default within a certain amount of time. The court may order that the company responsible for the default should pay for all costs of the application.

In the most serious cases of non-compliance, the CEA may send files to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for potential criminal prosecution on indictment. This can result in large fines, imprisonment, or both. The CEA also has the power to bring summary prosecutions in its own name for more minor criminal offences. These prosecutions take place in the District Court.

How the policy works in practice

In one recent case, the CEA's Insolvency Supervision Directorate dealt with a liquidator who had not submitted a report regarding the conduct of directors of an insolvent company.

When a company becomes insolvent and is unable to pay its debts as they fall due, the law requires the liquidator (who is responsible for winding up the company) to submit a report regarding the behaviour of the company’s directors to the CEA after six months from when the liquidator is appointed.

In this case, the liquidator had failed to submit a statutory report in respect of not one, but six insolvent companies. The liquidator initially promised to deliver those reports, but after a year, no report had yet been received. Further, the liquidator then stopped responding to any correspondence from the CEA.

It is a criminal offence for a liquidator not to deliver these reports to the CEA, one which attracts a maximum six-month imprisonment and a Class A fine, or both.

However, the CEA assessed this case’s specific circumstances and deemed that civil enforcement was appropriate and succeeded in bringing High Court proceedings against the liquidator to compel him to deliver the outstanding statutory reports within a specified timeframe. Legal costs were awarded to the CEA.

The impact

The CEA’s statutory mandate is not only to enforce the law by using a wide array of tools available to it, but to publicly promote compliance with the law. The organisation’s response strategy achieves value-for-money and allows an organisation the equivalent of a medium-sized company to enforce the behaviour of thousands of corporate entities.

For further information: E: info@cea.gov.ie W: cea.gov.ie

New authority for heat network development

The development of a new heat network authority will provide national oversight for the development of district heating networks in Ireland, forthcoming legislation has proposed.

In November 2024, the then-government approved the General Scheme of the Heat (Networks and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024, the first standalone heat bill in the State’s history.

Included in the main provisions of the bill is the establishment of a Heat Network Authority, which the government says “will provide a centralised approach to the strategic development of the district heating sector on a national basis”.

Interestingly, in line with the recommendation of the District Heating Steering Group 2023 report, the bill also makes provision for state ownership of district heating infrastructure in the longer term.

Currently, around 40 per cent of Ireland’s energy consumption is devoted to heating, and decarbonisation of this energy is central to the Government’s overarching decarbonisation targets. The Climate Action Plan targets 2.7 TWh of district heating by 2030, an ambition that will require an immediate scale up and acceleration of projects

The SEAI’s 2022 National Heat Study previously indicated that some 54 per cent of buildings are already suitable for district heating, while Dublin’s

Energy Agency, Codema, estimates that approximately 80 per cent of heat demand in Dublin could be met by existing waste heat and renewable sources in the capital.

Although district heating is a proven and wellestablished technology used across Europe, largely fuelled by fossil fuels in the past, Ireland’s first district heating network was opened in Dublin’s Tallaght in April 2023. Low carbon heat is provided by Amazon’s data centre, and in will be supplemented by waste heat from the Poolbeg incinerator.

Other provisions of the bill’s general scheme include the facilitation of regulatory provisions to ensure price protections for both existing and new district and communal heat consumers, and the establishment of a National District Heating Centre of Excellence within the SEAI to centralise the approach to development of the sector.

Outside of the bill, the Government has also indicated that amendments are being made to the Support Scheme for Renewable Heat (SSRH) to facilitate supports for district heating.

Thursday 6 February 2025

Irish Renewable Gas Conference 2025

The Gibson Hotel, Dublin

The Irish energy sector is undergoing a transition to a low carbon future. Although much of the focus to date has been on electricity, there is now a need to move the focus towards the transition of Ireland’s natural gas network to low and zero carbon gas sources. By gradually replacing natural gas with renewable biomethane the goal is to deliver a net-zero carbon gas network by 2045 and to reduce emissions across a number of key sectors, including those that are traditionally difficult to decarbonise, like transport, agriculture, industry, and power generation.

There are an emerging number of elements to the decarbonisation of the natural gas infrastructure including biomethane and green hydrogen. The production of biomethane also offers the opportunity to address emissions from the agriculture sector. The Climate Action Plan 2023 has a target of 5.7TWh of biomethane by 2030 and this will require over 150 anaerobic digestion plants. Ireland also has the opportunity to generate green hydrogen from renewable electricity to further decarbonise its gas network and also offers Ireland an export opportunity.

Energy Ireland, in partnership with Gas Networks Ireland, will hold this annual conference on the future of renewable gas in Ireland, involving key stakeholders across the energy sector. The objective of the conference is to give delegates a genuine in-depth understanding of the developments in the gas sector and to investigate potential options for decarbonising

Speakers include…

Sean Kinsella Principal Officer Department of the Environment, Climate, and Communications

Katja Yafimava Senior Research Fellow The Oxford Institute for Energy Studies

Padraig Fleming Biomethane Programme Manager Gas Networks Ireland

James Temple Renewables Manager Flogas

Jonathan McFerran Deputy Director, Green Growth Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs

Ciara Beausang Research Officer Teagasc

Niall Farrell Senior Research Officer Economic & Social Research Institute

Dale Guest Chief Commercial Officer Stream Bioenergy

To register

Sponsorship

& exhibition opportunities available…

Join Ireland’s leading organisations in partnering with the Irish Renewable Gas Conference 2025. There are a small number of high-profile sponsorship and exhibition packages available. For further information on how your organisation can benefit contact us directly on +353 (0)1 661 3755 or email Olivia.Ross@energyireland.ie

Ibec: Proudly empowering Ireland’s public sector

Over many decades, Ibec has proudly developed deep and trusted partnerships with a large and diverse community of public organisations and state enterprises, encompassing some of the largest individual employers in the country.

Ibec, the organisation representing Irish employers, has long been a driving force in fostering economic growth and prosperity. Recognising the intrinsic link between enterprise and public services in shaping a resilient economy, and the commonality of challenges faced by all Irish employers, Ibec’s membership extends far beyond private business.

With over 320 dedicated employees, Ibec supports thousands of employers across Ireland and is active locally, nationally and internationally through its Dublin headquarters and six regional centres, as well as a Brussels-based team and a growing global footprint.

Over recent budget cycles, Ibec’s policy activities and campaigns have reflected a much broader ambition and focus on Irish society as a whole. The organisation has been an increasingly strong advocate for increased investment in bigger and better public services, which underpin our communities, our quality of life and our continued attractiveness as a location of choice

for global business and investment.

Established in 2019, Ibec Public Sector exists as a dedicated relationship hub for Ibec’s public sector partners, ensuring their unique needs and interests are met through Ibec’s core functions and services, as well as maximising their overall membership experience through a complimentary suite of bespoke activities, workstreams and events of particular value to public bodies. Ibec Public Sector also works to enshrine the voice and profile of the public sector in the organisation’s wider campaigns, engagements and advocacy activities.

Ibec’s public sector membership is large and diverse, spanning Ireland’s universities, technological universities, and higher and further education and training providers; voluntary hospitals, and allied health, disability and social care providers; state agencies – both commercial and non-commercial; a number of other public, statutory and regulatory authorities; and representative bodies of public organisations.

Ibec Public Sector’s bespoke events and workstreams add additional value to Ibec membership for public employers. A good example is Ibec’s annual Public Healthcare HR Conference, which examines the challenges and opportunities within healthcare HR. The 2024 edition welcomed over 100 delegates from 20 voluntary healthcare providers to explore how a staffcentric approach to equality, diversity and inclusion can enhance workplace experiences and patient outcomes.

Ibec Public Sector members are first and foremost Ibec members, with full access to the organisation’s entire suite of services and supports. Ibec membership empowers public sector organisations through our expert Employer Relations services, our impactful public policy activities, our tailored supports and our unrivalled networking and learning opportunities.

Ibec’s employer relations (ER) service acts as an extension of your own HR, ER, and IR functions. These teams provide dedicated support throughout the employment lifecycle, up to and including representation at the Workplace Relations Commission and Labour Court, with in-house employment law solicitors available to provide specific advice or guidance in even the most complex scenarios. Regular HR-focussed forums and clinics, both online and in-person across the country, profile the latest HR policy and legislation and explore wider workplace trends, including those with a specific public sector dimension.

Ibec thrives on collaboration, addressing shared challenges with unified solutions. Ibec Public Sector members have access to crosssectoral Ibec Networks, a regular series of practical learning forums on topics as diverse as risk and compliance; facilities and estate management; health and safety; health and social care; recruitment and the newest addition, sales, marketing and customer experience. Recent public sector-specific workshops have focussed on supporting members to understand, implement and comply with significant new obligations under both the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate and the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021. A key element of these workshops, as well as the overall Ibec membership experience, is the degree to which peer-topeer access is prioritised, allowing public sector professionals to engage, learn and share directly with each other, as well as their counterparts in industry.

Ibec membership also allows exclusive access to cutting-edge resources designed to address complex organisational challenges. For example, in response to the growing emphasis on sustainability and transparency, Ibec has recently developed two comprehensive toolkits: a Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) toolkit and a climate action toolkit, both of which are designed to equip members, public and private alike, with the practical guidance, knowledge and actionable insights needed to navigate and thrive in a highly complex and ever evolving regulatory landscape.

Ibec advocates for policy changes which benefit all Irish employers. Ibec Public Sector members have access to Ibec’s national and regional policy committees, with a seat at the table in shaping and driving the organisation’s overall lobbying and campaigning priorities. Recent lobbying successes include the unlocking of the National Training Fund, which will release €1.5 billion over the next six years, and a welcome €1.6 billion increase in capital spending. Additionally, new resources have been ringfenced for infrastructure development, ensuring consistent and strategic investment in the country’s future.

Ibec’s public sector offering will continue to evolve and expand in response to changing landscapes within the public sector, ensuring that Ibec members are well-positioned to navigate challenges and leverage opportunities, individually and collectively.

To explore more about how Ibec membership can benefit your organisation, contact us:

E: membership@ibec.ie

W: www.ibec.ie/publicsector

OECD: Ireland’s “promising” digitalisation of public procurement

The use of an e-procurement system and a framework which ensures use of data means that there are “promising foundations” to the digitalisation of Ireland’s public procurement system, according to a report by the OECD.

The report, entitled The Digital Transformation of Public Procurement in Ireland, states that digital transformation of public procurement is closely aligned with the Government’s ambitious digital agenda. Public sector digital and data strategies emphasise the direct delivery of public services, including reducing administrative overheard and increasing openness for business.

The success of establishing the mature use of eprocurement for the tendering phase of Ireland’s public procurement, has taken place primarily through the implementation of eTenders, which functions as a central point for publishing notifications and as the single eSender to Tenders Electronic Daily (TED), the online portal for public procurement notices from across the EU.

According to the report, “public procurement governance structures could better address and support digital transformation”, while also stating that the Government has no clearly articulated vision and roadmap to achieve digital transformation.

The absence of a clear national strategy for public procurement means that initiatives have mainly been driven by specific regulatory requirements such as those set out in the EU’s Public Procurement

Directives. The report states: “The absence of a common set of guiding principles and oversight contributes to operational silos, limited interoperability among systems and reduced ability to make the most of joined-up data, ultimately resulting in a more complex environment for contracting authorities and suppliers, especially SMEs.”

The report further states that “Ireland would benefit from defining a clear vision and ambition for the digital transformation of public procurement”. It says that a whole-of-government plan would improve the State’s ability to make strategic decisions about the deployment of new tools and systems that could work together in a co-ordinated way.

Transformation journey in public procurement: from eprocurement to digital public procurement

The OECD Recommendation on Public Procurement, highlights the need to invest in technology and to improve the public procurement system by “harnessing the use of digital technologies throughout the public procurement cycle.

The recommendation invites governments in the EU:

• to employ recent digital technological developments covering the public procurement cycle to ensure transparency and access to public tenders, increasing competition, simplifying processes for contract award and management, driving cost savings and integrating public procurement and public information; and

• to pursue state-of-the-art digital procurement tools that are modular, flexible, scalable and secure in order to assure business continuity, privacy and integrity that provide fair treatment and protect sensitive data, while supplying the core capabilities and functions that allow business innovation.

Furthermore, the OECD recommendation on digital government strategies guides governments in the design and implementation of whole-of government digital transformation reforms that enhance efficiency, inclusion and transparency in the public sector. Moreover, it encourages governing and using digital tools and data for human-centred and data-driven service design, delivery and policymaking across different policy areas.

Transformation of public procurement in Ireland

According to the OECD’s report, “ongoing efforts on digital government in Ireland offer possibilities for the digital transformation of public procurement to leverage policies and actions intended to increase the capacity of public sector institutions to adopt and use digital tools and data”.

The report hailed the State’s strategies such as Harnessing Digital – the Digital Ireland Framework, Connecting Government 2030: A Digital and ICT Strategy for Ireland’s Public Service, and Better Public Services, as setting out “a strong vision” for further digital transformation of government.

The State’s Connecting Government 2030, published in 2022, aims to change how people, businesses and policymakers interact, ensuring interoperability across levels of government and across public services. The strategy identifies six priority action areas with direct implications for the digital transformation of public procurement:

• A human-driven digital experience; including aspects related to service design and promotion of simplified access to government digital services and processes by citizens and businesses.

• Harnessing data effectively; including actions for improved data sharing and use in the Irish public sector such as the data strategy, data interoperability initiative, and the data governance board.

• Government as a platform; development of an

ecosystem of building blocks such as digital standards, common components and resources that enable a systemic and coherent digital transformation across Ireland’s public sector. The development of common components and use of open-source solutions that enable scalable digital tools across the public sector are emphasised.

• Evolving through innovation; including the use of emerging technologies and out-of-the-box solutions for common and old problems.

• Strengthening digital skills; including an update of the competence model led by the public service with the needed digital skills to enable government digital transformation as well as the development of ICT professionalisation and talent development programmes.

• Focusing on governance and leadership; including broader governance structures within the public sector to enable the digital transformation of the government as well as consultations with businesses and individuals regarding priorities for digital government services.

Moreover, Ireland has been successful in establishing the mature use of e-procurement for the leading phase of the public procurement lifecycle, primarily the implementations of eTenders.

Ireland has continued to invest in eTenders, with a change of the IT platform going live in May 2023. The Office of Government Procurement (OGP) awarded a contract for the provision of eTenders platform to a new supplier for a period of up to 10 years in 2022.

However, there is limited evidence that current efforts for the digitalisation of public procurement are anchored in the Government’s vision and action on digital. In addition efforts to expand the use and functionality of eTenders are not enshrined within the Government strategy on digital government. Furthermore, when transitioning to the new eTenders platform, the OGP ensured that historical data covering the previous 10 years would remain available by maintaining access to the previous eTenders platform on an interim basis until May 2024. This continued access to the legacy platform will allow contracting authorities to make the necessary provisions and act to retrieve and retain their procurement competition data off the platform beyond that date.

However, stakeholders in policymaking noted that this will result in the loss of a single point of access to the consolidated historical data, which will only be available through individual contracting authorities rather than on the eTenders platform. Given the large number of contracting authorities, this will represent a loss of transparency unless the consolidated historical data can be made publicly available in future.

Supporting the creation of 'public value' with Ireland’s senior public leaders

Collaboration across levels and sectors of society can create more prosperous, freer, more secure and more tolerant human societies, writes Harvard Professor Mark Moore, an international authority on strategic management by government bodies and other public enterprises.

When I received an invitation from Rosalind Carroll on behalf of the Association of Chief Executives of State Agencies to address a conference for public service leaders in Ireland in October 2024, my enthusiastic, affirmative reply went well beyond my Irish heritage. What mostly motivated me

to travel from Massachusetts to Athlone was the chance to meet, hear from, and work with a broad cross section of Irish leaders.

The unique group that had come together consisted of individuals who had committed themselves to becoming “public leaders” – to use themselves,

their positions, and their talents not to exercise power over others, but with and for others in collaborative efforts to imagine and concretely realise more prosperous, freer, more secure, more open, and more just societies in which to live, work, and celebrate the experience of human community.

Their “public leadership” depended critically on connecting their individually held “public spirit” – their willingness to take on the responsibility for enhancing the overall material welfare and justice of Ireland – to the existing or latent “public spirit” distributed across all individuals in the society. That connection would have to be made, I was convinced, by making appeals to the “public values” that lay within the hearts and minds of most, if not all Irish citizens.

In short, I hoped I was walking into an economic, social, and political culture that was ready to meet the challenge of creating public value, and away from my

(L-R) Declan Hughes, Secretary General, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment moderating a panel discussion on innovation in the public service at the ‘Delivering for Ireland’s Future’ conference with: Brendan Tuohy, Chair, EirGrid PLC; Ruth Kennedy, Revenue Commissioner; Marianne Cassidy, Assistant Secretary in the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform; Barry Kennedy, CEO, Irish Manufacturing Research; and Denis Dullea, Ericsson.

Credit: Eoin

Healy, Athlone Photography.

own country that seemed bent on establishing a culture of individualism, materialism, and unprincipled competition that was infecting conditions and relationships in all parts of human life.

No, this is not (at least not yet!) a request to re-patriate. But it is to say that I was hoping to take a big draught of Irish decency and commonsense before returning to the fray in the US, and to bring back the “good news” that there was some light at the end of the tunnel coming from a distant but not really foreign land.

Shift the ‘public vs private’ dialogue

You will be glad to hear, I hope, that the conference gave me great hope. The main reason was that the conference offered clear evidence of a palpable shift in what had become a not very useful discussion about the “competition” between the “private” and the “public” sectors, and helped keep the momentum going.

For the last 30 years or so, the public discussion has been largely about how “big” the public sector should be relative to the private. The driving force in that

discussion was the idea that the private sector was society’s real productive sector – the place where value was created for consumers, workers and owner/investors.

The government, on the other hand, was a costly burdensome, costly stagnating presence that scooped up material and human resources and provided little of value in return. On this view, everything in society would be “better” (and fairer and more just?) if we left the economy to do its magic without too much interference (except for the reliable protection of property rights and the enforcement of private economic contracts).

A bit of reflection (along with a lot of elaborate theorising!), however, suggests that a free market system left entirely to its own devices will fail in many important ways to produce even a prosperous society, let alone a free, secure, and just one. Indeed, economic theory admits that free-market economies have “imperfections” that have to be “corrected” – presumably by some unspecified (but apparently very powerful!) other social institutions.

Significantly, many of these imperfections create serious problems not only in the material, economic conditions in society, but also in the

Photographed at the ‘Delivering for Ireland’s Future’ conference hosted by the Association of Chief Executives of State Agencies were: (L-R) Eileen Dunne, retired Irish journalist and conference MC; Roderic O’Gorman TD, former Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth; Rosalind Carroll, chief executive officer of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board and chair of the Association of Chief Executives of State Agencies in Ireland; Mark Moore, research professor of public management at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University; and Brian Doherty, chief executive officer of the Legal Services Regulatory Authority.

Credit: Eoin Healy, Athlone

Photography.

material environmental conditions, and in the realms of social, political, and even economic and ecological conditions in which each and all of us live, work, and seek satisfaction, security, and a modest degree of significance and honour.

It follows, then, that to deal with the problematic conditions that free markets create, the free markets have to be restrained, guided, and complemented by some other social institutions –powerful enough to hammer the powerful forces of a free markets system into a more rational and humanistic order.

One such is a government. But it is not any form of government. It is a government that both depends on and seeks to develop the practices of “democratic self-governance”. According to political philosopher Hannah Arendt, a

democratic government is the only form of government that can produce the only kind of freedom that is possible or desirable in a highly interdependent society: namely, a government committed to preserving and encouraging the use of individual rights that “allow individuals to participate in the design of the architecture of their own restraint”.

The second is the broad, diverse set of voluntary, civil society and political organisations that emerge as democratic citizens exercise their collectively guaranteed individual rights to think and act on their own as individuals, associations, organisations and institutions to advance their own economic, social, and political aspirations for the society in which they live.

These civic and political organisations both functionally complement and effectively influence the structure, conduct, and performance of both market-based and governmental institutions in the collective activities that create the economic, social, political, and environmental conditions in which each and all of us lives, works, and finds meaning and significance in their lives.

Without these institutions, relying only on the profit-motivated and market-guided actions of commercial enterprises, we would be left to deal with the “gale of creative destruction” that affects not only commercial enterprises, but also existing environmental, social, and political conditions in the other sectors of society.

The important question then is what institutional structures and processes can we rely on to achieve the goals of prosperity, freedom, security, and justice in what we now recognise in a highly interdependent society?

The answer that is emerging, I think, is that we cannot rely on government to act directly to solve all the problems that our vulnerability to nature, and to one another, creates. The threats we face that come from both natural causes and from the parts of human nature that motivate some individuals and institutions to seek to harm and oppress others mean that we have to shore up and further develop the institutions, structures and processes that can cause us as individuals to choose to act in ways that make the most of our opportunities to collaborate in the creation of our shared lives, and to avoid our temptation to physically harm or oppress our fellows.

This shift in focus demands us to adopt a different view of the role of the special institution called “government”, and to embrace a much wider view of how to use the government, and the other civic and political organisations that arise in democratic governments, to recover (or perhaps newly create) a broad, deep, commitment to “democratic selfgovernance.”

If we can learn to govern ourselves – to refrain from inflicting harm on, or oppressing others, or destroying the natural environment – then we can operate with a greater capacity to produce prosperous, free, secure, tolerant, and just societies than would be possible through any single institution called government.

The capacity for “democratic selfgovernance” has to become a cause that includes but extends beyond the particular institution that is called the government, and is granted special powers by its citizens.

Achieving this broad cultural and institutional purpose requires two key changes in our contemporary economic, social, and political discourse.

Learning to collaborate in public leadership

The first focuses on the political and operational challenges that emerge as we try to accustom ourselves to thinking and acting collectively across the institutional boundaries that divide the public, from the private, from the voluntary at all levels of economic, social, and political life.

This takes a great deal of both individual and collective thought, creativity, and action among those who hold positions of public leadership across the society. It requires innovations in the operational methods we employ to deal with both stubborn, chronic problems, and emergent new ones. As important, it requires innovations in the basic structures and process of governance that can create a frame within which a sufficient coalition of actors located in different positions can assemble,

deliberate, and commit to collective action that can improve the problematic conditions that are harming or oppressing their citizens.

Finally, it requires different forms of leadership and joint action that do not depend on a single individual who is granted hierarchical control over the relevant assets. This is the public leadership, and the public itself, that needs to be called into existence by circumstances that require collective public action.

Keeping the focus on the public values that animate, guide, and justify the collective effort

The second is that it is crucial for those leading such collaborations to keep their focus on the public values they seek to produce. We have named these purposes at an abstract level throughout this essay. The goals are to advance the material prosperity, the liberty, the security, and the satisfaction that comes from feeling fairly and justly treated by other individuals in their daily interactions with other individuals, and by the wider institutions with which they live and work, and which shape their individual opportunities to live with dignity, autonomy, and a sense of individual accomplishment and social significance.

It is all too easy to lose sight of the public values to be advanced through the complex, arduous, uncertain, and contested efforts of public leaders to use the structures and processes of democratic self-governance to advance these goals. Yet, if we lose sight of democratic self-governance as the apparatus that helps us find both the ends and means of our independent and interdependent public life, and fail to remain loyal to these elaborated structures as ideas that define both the ends and the appropriate means of pursuing our common purposes, we will have given up the last, best hope for creating a good and just polity, in which individuals can life prosperous, free, secure, and just lives.

To learn more about the Association of Chief Executives of State Agencies, please visit: W: www.acesa.ie

(L-R): Conference moderator Eileen Dunne, former RTE newscaster; Oonagh Buckley, Secretary General, Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications; Mark Mellett, Vice Admiral (Rtd), Irish Defence Forces; Sabrina Dekker, Climate Action Coordinator, Dublin City Council; Diarmuid Torney, School of Law and Government, DCU, who all spoke on the topic of Climate Change and Public Services. (Missing from photo: William Walsh, CEO, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and ACESA Board Member.)

Professor Mark Moore is research professor of public management at Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University. He played a key role in the ‘Delivering for Ireland’s Future’ conference hosted by the Association of Chief Executives of State Agencies in Athlone in October 2024. Over two days, delegates heard from a range of civil, public, private and civic leaders on challenges, including achieving public value, climate change, changing demographics, competitiveness and productivity.

Credit: Eoin Healy, Athlone Photography

ESB ad

2025

Following a sold-out conference in 2024, the Environment Ireland annual ESG Forum returns for 2025 to assess the most recent ESG developments. Bringing together over 200 key stakeholders, the conference will focus on the current challenges facing organisations and their ESG strategies.

ESG cuts across many organisational areas and presents complex challenges including reporting, capturing data and creating good governance. In an ever evolving landscape, the need to move from theory to action is now essential when considering external factors such as environmental and social impacts. Measuring and responding to these impacts has become a necessity as is having a strong governance framework in place to embed the best social and environmental practices.

The social element of ESG has historically found itself less defined than its environmental and governance counterparts. However, many social issues such as human rights, diversity & inclusion and supply chains are now moving to the forefront. ESG is also playing an important role in finance, with a growing focus on sustainable and responsible investment.

This annual conference will hear from visiting and local expert speakers who will explore the future outlook for ESG for both public and private sectors and what it will mean for your organisation.

How to register

ESG Forum

Sponsorship & exhibition opportunities available… Full programme coming soon! Nessa

There are a small number of high-profile sponsorship and exhibition packages available. For further information on how your organisation can benefit contact us directly on +353 (0)1 661 3755 or email olivia.ross@environmentireland.ie

bearing point ad

Budget 2025 and what it means for healthcare in Ireland

Budget 2025 has unveiled a record €25.8 billion allocation to the health sector, marking a €2.94 billion increase compared to 2024, however, opposition voices and public health experts argue it lacks the transformative measures necessary to address Ireland’s chronic healthcare challenges.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly TD lauded the budget as the largest health investment in the State’s history, emphasising its alignment with population needs.

A €2.7 billion increase in funding for the health service, secured through an agreement with the HSE earlier in the year, aims to stabilise funding and improve financial governance. Donnelly asserted: “Budget 2025 is all about making [access to healthcare] a reality for more and more patients and families.”

Mirroring this assessment, Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform Paschal Donohoe TD, hailed the health workforce growth as critical, highlighting a projected increase to 130,000 whole-time equivalents in 2025, a 27 per cent rise since 2019.

Opposition parties, particularly Sinn Féin, have voiced strong dissatisfaction with the health Budget. The party’s finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty TD accused the Government of failing to address the legacy of underfunding from previous years, arguing that most of the nearly €3 billion increase is needed simply to maintain services at their current levels. He

stated: “When we strip all that back… it leaves €120 million for new measures.”

Doherty also lambasted the Government for what he states is its overreliance on agency staff and recruitment embargoes, which he claimed have eroded morale and the system’s ability to plan.

Sinn Féin’s alternative plan calls for measures such as:

• Universal healthcare, including 150,000 new medical cards.

• Reducing prescription costs and phasing out hospital car parking fees.

• Workforce expansion through comprehensive training investments.

Critique and analysis

Despite the Budget’s significant funding, critics argue it fails to address systemic issues such as hospital overcrowding, GP shortages, and the strain on mental health services. Social Justice Ireland described the allocation as “insufficient to meet

Budget 2025: Key health measures

• 335 additional hospital beds, raising the total to over 18,000

• €35 million for women’s health, including free hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and expanded access to IVF treatments.

• €420 million to tackle waiting lists, an increase of €60 million over 2024.

• Mental health funding increased by 10%, to a record €1.48 billion.

• Expansion in home support hours to €24 million, targeting 60,000 older persons.

long-term needs,” noting that rising demand due to aging demographics and inflation will continue to outpace the healthcare system’s capacity.

Sara Burke, a health policy expert, highlighted the need for more substantial investments in primary care, particularly in underserved rural areas. While she acknowledged the increase in home care hours as a step in the right direction, she expressed concern over whether the funding would effectively address broader challenges in primary healthcare access.

Mental health advocates welcomed the €1.48 billion allocation but stressed that it falls short of addressing gaps in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Minister Mary Butler acknowledged this challenge but emphasised the Government’s focus on transition care, suicide prevention, and youth-focused initiatives.

A recurring theme in critiques of Budget 2025 is the tension between maintaining services and enabling meaningful reform. Although the Government has prioritised short-term capacity increases such as additional beds and reduced waiting times, opposition voices argued during Budget proceedings that these measures fail to provide the structural overhaul needed for a sustainable health system.

Notably, the €1.5 billion allocated to address “2024 pressures” reflects an attempt to correct previous underfunding rather than enable new initiatives. Sinn Féin, Labour and the Social Democrats have called for a multiannual strategy to reform the two-tier system, where public patients face significantly longer waits than private ones.

While Budget 2025 has given the health service a record-breaking allocation aimed at alleviating immediate pressures, the plan is more of the same, and continues the Government’s lack of a transformative vision, as was the original vision in the Sláintecare programme.

The allocation provides incremental improvements, such as expanded services for women and older persons, but significant gaps remain in addressing GP access, hospital overcrowding, and mental health service delivery.

The debate underscores a broader struggle to balance the demands of a growing, aging population with the need for a resilient and equitable health system. While Budget 2025 continues to fund the health service and could lay the groundwork for future progress, the State’s healthcare challenges require a more visionary and reform-driven approach to ensure long-term sustainability.

Medical regulation in an era of global change must continue to evolve

In 2024, the healthcare and medical landscape continued to evolve rapidly, driven by factors such as the rise of telemedicine, the integration of automation and artificial intelligence in healthcare, the ongoing global response to public health crises and war, and the global movement of doctors and healthcare workers, writes Suzanne Crowe, President, Medical Council.

As the regulator of doctors in Ireland, the Medical Council’s remit is to maintain the Register of Medical Practitioners –the register of all doctors who can practise medicine in Ireland. All doctors practising medicine in Ireland must be registered with the Medical Council and are required to renew their registration on an annual basis.

While the regulation of doctors is perhaps what the Medical Council is best known for, over the past two years,

our wider role as an organisation has naturally had to develop and evolve, to respond to and support the public and doctors in a complex environment.

Regulatory policy and standards

Access to healthcare and prescriptions via telemedicine has grown exponentially in the past five years. Our latest research on the topic shows that around one in

four (24 per cent) of adults accessed these services in 2023, including 21 per cent who have used GP services through telemedicine, a marked increase from 2 per cent in 2020. Telemedicine usage is highest among 35–49-yearolds, and those residing in Dublin.

Advancements in health and medicine means it is essential for doctors to not only maintain their continuous professional development (CPD), but to have access to professional guidance on emerging medical topics.

In January 2024, we published the ninth edition of the Guide to Professional Conduct and Ethics, which seeks to support doctors by providing principles–based guidance on how to best work in partnership with patients. The ninth edition of the Guide covers a wide range of topics and scenarios likely to arise over the course of their professional careers. It contains new and revised guidance for doctors on areas including social media, use of health resources, and clinical and speciality specific standards and guidelines.

We are committed to delivering current, pertinent, and inclusive guidance on a wide range of scenarios that impact the medical profession. In 2025, our Regulatory Policy and Standards team will be publishing updated guidance on topics including telemedicine, open disclosure, and SafeStart – a guide for doctors who are newly working in Ireland.

Professional development

As a result of the changing medical landscape, there has been a renewed emphasis on our role as a regulator in ensuring the quality and integrity of the medical profession. The Medical Council’s role spans the entire lifecycle of a doctor’s career. From the time a student decides to apply to medical school, the Medical Council is present in its role accrediting undergraduate medical education. We stay with the doctor throughout internship and specialist training with our quality assurance model, and throughout doctors’ careers through our role in the maintenance of professional competence, while also supporting international medical graduates through their first time registration, as with all doctors with annual registration retention.

Registration and research

Related to CPD, the registration process is a vital component in ensuring that doctors have the appropriate qualifications and are fit and proper to enter the profession. The annual retention process is also critically important for doctors as it ensures that the register is correct, that doctors have engaged with CPD, have professional indemnity insurance and can make declarations that may impact their practice.

Our 2023 Medical Workforce Intelligence Report highlighted Ireland’s reliance on international doctors, with just over one quarter (25.7 per cent) of clinically active doctors in Ireland holding a basic medical qualification from outside of Ireland, the EU and the UK. We are working with a highly mobile, global medical workforce, with more doctors than ever coming from overseas to live in Ireland with their families and practise medicine here.

It is important that Ireland remains an attractive place for doctors and their

families to stay and work long-term. Our report cites research which states that lack of progression opportunities, fear of de-skilling, quality of training, excessive work hours and poor working conditions are among reasons why doctors seek to leave Ireland.

Our Research function within the Medical Council collates and analyses information to support and inform national workforce planning, and we work with stakeholders to promote a need for dedicated medical workforce planning, quality training and proper induction for International Medical Graduates. Medical workforce shortages in Ireland highlight the need for greater supports to ensure we retain doctors and incentivise them to practise medicine in Ireland.

Looking ahead

As the regulator, we essentially need to be able to adapt our role at pace. Regulatory bodies worldwide have had to adapt their approach, guidelines and standards to ensure that doctors are competent to handle new challenges and be aware of risks.

While our remit of robust professional regulation is paramount, we must balance the need for innovation with patient safety, ensuring access to quality medical care, and managing the implications of increasingly digital and data-driven healthcare. These are just some of the issues that regulatory bodies must navigate.

The professional regulation of doctors over the coming years will play a crucial role in safeguarding patients and upholding the integrity of the medical profession. It will be shaped by further technological advancements, societal changes, and the lessons learned from global health crises.

The Medical Council is the regulator of doctors in Ireland and maintains the Register of Medical Practitioners - the register of all doctors who can practise medicine in Ireland. The Medical Council also sets the standards for medical education and training in Ireland. It oversees lifelong learning and skills development throughout doctors’ professional careers through its professional competence requirements. It is charged with promoting good medical practice. The Medical Council is also where the public may make a complaint against a doctor.

Suzanne Crowe is President of the Medical Council, and a consultant in paediatric intensive care in Children’s Health Ireland Crumlin. She is also a board trustee for LGBT Ireland, Cheshire Ireland, and The Down Syndrome Centre.

You can find out more about the Medical Council’s work by visiting:

W: www.medicalcouncil.ie

Better healthcare in Ireland

Damien McCallion, formerly Chief Operations Officer of Health Service Executive (HSE), now Chief Technology and Transformation Officer, HSE, says that the future model of healthcare in Ireland cannot be resolved within the health service alone.

Describing evidence-based healthcare policy as a core pillar of public services transformation in the State, Damien McCallion indicates a recognition of the need to base policy on evidence so as to avoid negative impact on people’s lives.

Offering a snapshot of the nation’s health based on Department of Health ‘Health In Ireland Key Trends 2023’ report, he says that improvement in life expectancy (now approximately two years above the EU-27 average), of the five-year survival rates from breast, cervical, colorectal and lung cancer, and 10 per cent reduction in all-cause mortality rates in the past decade, are key indicators of the substantial improvement the collective effort of

improved public services is having on the State’s health and wellbeing.

However, indicators also point to the need to prioritise solutions to meet future demand. According to recent CSO estimates, Ireland’s population is projected to grow from 5.2 million to 5.8-6.4 million in the next two decades depending on what migration scenario unfolds. Within that population demographic, the number of 65 to 85 year olds will grow by 66-71 per cent, while the number of over 85s is set to grow by 164-169 per cent. McCallion explains that in 2042, more than one-infive people are expected to be over 65. As a result, the population increase is expected to drive a 25 per cent increase in emergency department

attendance, a 60 per cent increase in overnight bed stays, and 116 per cent increase in homecare services, for the health service.

Outlining a recognised need to focus resources and investment to meet future demand, while also meeting current pressures, McCallion points to improved cancer survival rates as an exemplar of how a strong policy and strategic framework underpins improved outcomes for patients and service users. Developed in 2017, Ireland’s National Cancer Strategy, is being implemented and has delivered an over 10 per cent reduction in mortality from cancer in the last decade and improvements in cancer survival which now match OECD counterparts.

“It is absolutely clear that we cannot resolve the future model for healthcare in this country within the health service alone.”

Damien McCallion, HSE

Policy

Turning to the policy being delivered to meet current and future challenges, McCallion describes Sláintecare’s all-of-government design as “very powerful” in its creation of a common direction of travel, while acknowledging that progress requires the retention of buy-in from political stakeholders and the public that they represent.

Sláintecare prioritised two reform programmes. Improving safe, timely access to care, and promoting health and wellbeing is focused on integration, safety, prevention, shift of care to the right location, productivity, extra capacity and achieving Sláintecare waiting time targets. Within the programme a number of projects are geared towards these areas.

McCallion explains: “A major project is around capacity and that centres on beds and resources, but also on education, workforce planning and lots of other areas. For example, we have a huge challenge in our disability services today where there are some 700 therapist vacancies.

“We have increased the numbers of therapists we educate year on year but that is a four year cycle, and so, we have to look at what we can do in terms of developing new roles such as therapy assistant, or increase international recruitment to bridge those gaps in disability services.

“Interestingly, the big challenge here does not lie with funding or migration. The therapists we are educating are being sought across the health service as we seek to develop of child and youth mental health services and our older person services. There is a real alignment needed across health sector in this regard and that work is progressing.”

Other projects identified by McCallion under the umbrella of improving safe, timely access to care, and promoting health and wellbeing include the streamlining of care pathways from prevention to discharge, the development of elective ambulatory care centres in Dublin, Cork, and Galway and surgical hubs in other regions, as well as the implementation of a multi-annual waiting list reduction plan.

The second reform programme, addressing health inequalities, is centred on a move towards universal healthcare and includes programmes such as developing a population health approach for service planning and funding; rolling out the Sláintecare Healthy Communities Programme; and developing regional health areas.

McCallion says: “It is absolutely clear that we cannot resolve the future model for healthcare in this country within the health service alone.”

Turning to how the HSE is delivering on its ambitions. McCallion outlines a constant context, led by the Minister of Health, on whether the organisation can do more or better with the resources they have.

To this end, he says: “Post-pandemic, every healthcare system is facing a challenge where by the effort staff put in and the environment they worked in had a psychological impact, but are being asked to go again as waiting lists and emergency pressures grow. It is a really tough environment and our role is to try and support them through that.

“Some of the initiatives that we are taking forward include efforts to grow our service over six days to drive more out of the system from the resources we have. In addition, we are introducing innovation where possible, such as the integration of new technologies for better outcomes.”

Mental Health Commission: ‘Digital revolution has arrived’

The Mental Health Commission (MHC) is an example of how a public service body can keep its finger on the pulse of society, and adapt delivery of services to enhance an individual’s life experience.

The dominant strategic values driving its work are human rights; dignity and respect; person-centred mental health and decision support services; and driving improvements and access through quality, expertise and accountability.

Irish society is changing rapidly, and the design and delivery of Ireland’s public services must change with it. As a society, we are moving away from large groups of people being cared for or working in the same building – or congregated settings – to both working

and receiving services in our homes and local communities. We are moving away from queuing in government offices - to expecting a swifter digital approach, with 24/7 access to services 365 days a year.

The MHC has strategically aligned with these societal changes. Its current strategic plan ‘Supporting Change’ includes expanding the MHC remit beyond regulating mental health services into providing a broader societal value through the provision of Ireland’s first Decision Support Service. This expansion is based on collaboration with

colleagues in the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, and the Department of Health. Core to the expansion is regular and deep consultation with the public, service users, family members and professionals. All of whom express a strong desire for high-quality services which ensures equity of access to person-directed, individualised mental health and decision support services.

The Chief Executive of the Mental Health Commission, John Farrelly, is clear that “the digital revolution” has arrived and he wants the MHC to be ahead of the curve, so that their clients, the professionals they interact with, and the public, receive a modern service.

“We have actively focused our resources on efficient and effective delivery,” he says. “Digital is key to this but it is also a key accelerator for promoting and vindicating the human rights of people who use mental health and decision support services.”

The MHC has a skilled and committed executive body with a highly-motivated and hard-working senior leadership team (SLT) who are determined to keep delivering on the organisation’s strategic objectives. The SLT is complemented by individual members of staff who are directly connected to the strategic and business goals through ongoing performance management and development. “I want our organisation to keep improving to deliver the best service possible to the people we serve. We work hard to create an inclusive

The MHC senior leadership team: Back (L-R) MHC COO, Brian Gillespie; and MHC Director of Regulation, Gary Kiernan. Front (L-R): Director of the DSS, Áine Flynn; MHC Chief Executive, John Farrelly; and Inspector of Mental Health Services, Jim Lucey (missing from picture, MHC General Counsel, Orla Keane).

atmosphere, where all members of staff are dedicated to public service values and delivery.”

Chief Operations Officer, Brian Gillespie, leads the corporate team which ensures the MHC is an effective, cohesive, transparently governed and agile organisation. This strong corporate spine provides shared services and a modern ICT infrastructure to support personcentred and digital-first delivery of services. This is with the aim of supporting staff to perform, while reducing red tape and regulatory burden for those that regulates, or for members of the public and professionals who use services. Its digital services were recently recognised by experts from the World Health Organization as an approach that protects and vindicates the rights of people in a real way.

Expanded remit

were more than 2,000 decision support arrangements on the searchable register maintained by the DSS. These include the new form of enduring power of attorney (which make up more than 63% of all registered applications), codecision-making agreements and decision-making representation orders made by the courts and notified to the DSS.

“The DSS is an essential service for all adults,” says Farrelly. That includes those who may have difficulties with decision-making capacity now, potentially including people with an intellectual disability, a mental illness, acquired brain injury, or dementia. But the tools for advance planning- the new enduring power of attorney and advance healthcare directive mean that it also supports all those who wish to ensure that their wishes are understood and respected, should they ever lose capacity in the future. As such it is a service for all."

In April 2023, the MHC launched the Decision Support Service (DSS) for adults who may require help to exercise their right to make decisions – now or in the future. Aine Flynn was appointed by the MHC in 2017 to be Ireland’s first Director of the Decision Support Service. This digital-first service was primarily designed for use with the ordinary person in mind, and the service has already seen 19,000 people from all corners of the country opening an online account since it commenced operations, with almost 9,000 holders of these accounts aged 70 and over.

At the end of November 2024, there

Indeed, apart from the 1,272 EPAs fully registered on the DSS system at the end of November – with almost 1,000 of them registered in the period from July to November – there are thousands more working their way through the submission and registration process, demonstrating an increasing popularity by the public to plan ahead.

Mental health

Under the Mental Health Act, the MHC has a function “to promote, encourage and foster the establishment and maintenance of high standards and good practices in the delivery of mental health services”. This includes the core objective of driving standards, improving quality, and safeguarding service users by working with all stakeholders.

“We enjoy collaborating and we will continue to work with our colleagues in the Department of Health to support the roll out of Ireland’s mental health strategy, Sharing the Vision, and updating Ireland’s mental health laws.”

With the service user at the centre of his work, the Inspector of Mental Health Services, Jim Lucey delivers programmes of inspections that target risk and promote quality and safety in Ireland’s inpatient mental health units. The publication of both national and individual centre inspection reports ensures a transparency for the public to clearly understand both the strengths

and weaknesses of inpatient mental health services.

Together with his team, the MHC’s Director of Regulation, Gary Kiernan delivers programmes of standards development, registration, monitoring, and enforcement which support providers, while also holding them to account. The MHC also works and collaborates with all of the professionals, service users and providers to create standards that services can implement. Over the last few years, they have developed and implemented a new National Quality Framework for mental health services in Ireland.

The MHC is also custodian of the process for vindicating the rights of patients who are involuntarily detained. This function is led by MHC General Counsel, Orla Keane, who is one of Ireland’s foremost experts in mental health law. Coordinated by a team of highly-skilled professionals, the MHC ensures that any person who is involuntarily detained has the reason for that detention scrutinised by a tribunal that includes consultant psychiatrists, legal practitioners, and lay people. The process also ensure that every person has their own independent legal practitioner who will help vindicate their rights.

“Our work – in collaboration with service providers – shows that there has been a continued upward trend in compliance with approved centre regulations,” said Farrelly. “However, it is also important for a regulator to identify the current challenges that exist within services, such as premises and staffing. We are confident that the proposal for a capital investment programme will ensure that people in Ireland are cared for in modern premises that prioritise the safety of residents.

“Over the next five years – and on behalf of the Irish state – we will continue to operationalise a best-in-class Decision Support Service, and we will work with government, the people using services, and clinicians and providers to strengthen the standards, quality and regulatory infrastructure that protects human rights and further improve mental health service quality in this country.”

T:01 6362400

W: www.mhcirl.ie

Digitalising healthcare delivery

While Digital for Care: A Digital Health Framework for Ireland 2024-2030, published in May 2024, identifies electronic health records (EHRs) and integrated care systems as core priorities, questions about the State’s capacity to deliver such complex systems remain unresolved.

Ireland has faced a historical lag in digital health compared to EU peers, ranking near the bottom of the EU Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) for health infrastructure in recent years. The framework sets an ambitious vision for transforming healthcare delivery through digital innovation. While its goals of improved patient care, workforce enablement, and data-driven services are laudable, achieving these aspirations will require overcoming systemic challenges that have historically hampered progress in the State’s health sector.

While the Government’s target of providing every citizen with access to a digital health record by 2030 aligns with EU targets under the European Health

Data Space (EHDS), progress to date has been limited. The HSE’s rollout of EHRs has seen delays and cost overruns. Although St James’s Hospital has provided a notable exception, replicating such success nationally will require addressing systemic challenges, including fragmented IT systems, underinvestment in infrastructure, and insufficient digital literacy among both staff and patients.

Martin Curley, former Chief Information Officer of the HSE, noted in 2022 that Ireland has “the opportunity to leapfrog legacy systems seen elsewhere in Europe”, but that this “requires bold decision-making, substantial investment, and a national digital-first mindset”.

A digitally enabled workforce

A digitally enabled workforce is cited as “critical” for the success of the Digital for Care framework. The document envisions a healthcare environment where professionals are empowered with interoperable systems, secure digital identities, and real-time access to patient information. While this represents progress, current realities suggest the road ahead is steep.

The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has consistently cited resource strain on healthcare workers. In 2023, Ireland had fewer than 3.3 doctors per 1,000 people, below the EU average of four. Therefore, the introduction of new digital tools

People centric solutions for better healthcare

could exacerbate, rather than alleviate, the workload unless properly integrated and supported by robust training.

The Government’s focus on digital literacy will be welcomed by decision-makers, however, as the European Court of Auditors warned in 2022, poorly executed digitalisation risks alienating frontline workers, particularly in systems where legacy processes still dominate.

Therefore, the framework stipulates that the Government must engage directly with frontline workers to co-design systems that complement existing workflows and simplify administrative burdens, rather than creating additional complexity.

Data-driven decision-making

The framework commits to leverage data for policy and service optimization. The emphasis on dashboards, predictive analytics, and real-time monitoring has the potential to revolutionise health service delivery.

However, the State has historically struggled with data governance. A lack of centralised data standards and oversight has led to inconsistent reporting and limited utility of collected data. According to the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), only 42 per cent of Ireland’s health datasets are interoperable across systems. Without clear national standards and stronger legislative backing, such as the long-delayed Health Information Bill, data-driven ambitions may fall short.

To build confidence in this area, the framework states that government should prioritise:

• accelerating the adoption of international interoperability standards like FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) and SNOMED Clinical Terms;

• publishing regular, independent audits of health data systems to ensure compliance and transparency; and

• proactively communicating with the public about how their data will be used, addressing privacy concerns head-on.

Digital inclusion

Digital health transformation risks widening existing inequities if vulnerable populations – particularly older adults and rural communities – are not adequately supported. According to Eurostat, over 23 per cent of Irish adults lack basic digital skills, with rural areas disproportionately affected.

The framework acknowledges these risks, committing to preserving non-digital service access while fostering digital literacy programs. Yet there is limited detail on how these programmes will be resourced or delivered at scale.

Therefore, the framework asserts that digital literacy efforts must be accompanied by investment in physical infrastructure, as rural broadband access remains inconsistent, undermining the potential of telehealth and remote monitoring solutions in such areas.

Governance and accountability

The framework emphasises the need for robust governance to oversee digital health projects, yet Ireland’s track record in this area remains mixed. High-profile failures, such as the 2021 cyberattack on the HSE, highlighted vulnerabilities in governance and cybersecurity readiness.

Furthermore, while the establishment of regional health areas (RHAs) is a step forward for localised accountability, their integration with national systems remains under-defined. Niamh Brennan, a governance scholar, has warned that “fragmented oversight structures risk creating silos rather than the integrated care the government envisions.”

To mitigate these risks, the framework states that government must ensure:

• clear lines of accountability between RHAs and national bodies like HIQA;

• a centralised project management office for national digital health initiatives, equipped with technical and clinical expertise; and

• dedicated funding streams that are insulated from political cycles.

While Ireland has a long way to go to achieve digital health maturity, the Digital for Care framework represents an opportunity to fundamentally transform Irish healthcare, but its success hinges on sustained political will, careful planning, and transparent execution.

Leadership in health and inclusion: St John’s Hospital catering department’s milestones in 2024

The catering department at St John’s Hospital is setting a new standard in healthcare catering through innovative initiatives focused on wellbeing and cultural inclusivity.

Recently awarded the Irish Heart Foundation’s Happy Hearts Gold Award, the department is recognised for its dedication to promoting heart health across meal offerings, ensuring that nutrition remains a core pillar of wellness for both patients and staff.

The Happy Hearts at Work Programme, an initiative by the Irish Heart Foundation, encourages workplaces across Ireland to support their employees’ cardiovascular health by offering nutritious, heart-friendly meals. This prestigious award highlights the department’s commitment to integrating cardiac health principles into each meal, providing nutritionally balanced options that align with the highest standards of care.

Emer Martin, CEO, says: “This accolade recognises the hospital’s outstanding efforts in promoting heart-healthy eating options for staff in the hospital’s restaurant, showcasing a commitment to improving the overall health and wellbeing of its workforce.”

Allen Moore, Head of Catering Services and a recent Trinity College graduate in healthcare innovation, expressed his pride in the team’s achievement:

“Ensuring that our staff have access to healthy, balanced meals is not only a part of our responsibility but also a vital aspect of fostering a productive and health-conscious work environment. We have taken significant steps to ensure that the meals provided in the staff restaurant meet the highest standards of heart-healthy eating. This includes offering lower-fat options, reducing salt and sugar, increasing the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables, and incorporating whole grains into the daily menu.”

In addition to this health-focused achievement, the team at St John’s is devoted to fostering an inclusive work environment that celebrates the diverse backgrounds of its staff.

In September, the department organised an Onam celebration to honour the significant contributions of South Indian nursing staff who play a vital role in the hospital community. Onam, a major festival from Kerala, India, symbolises unity and abundance, themes embraced by involving nursing staff in the preparation and presentation of a traditional Onam Sadya feast.

This initiative not only celebrated the hospital’s south Indian colleagues but also enriched the cultural fabric of the institution, promoting cross-cultural understanding among staff. More recently, Multicultural Day was celebrated, culminating in an international presentation of culinary delights from a diverse representation of our staff.

The Catering department members are champions of innovation, health, and inclusivity, reflective of St John’s own mission statement and values. Their leadership unites staff through food, creating a health-focused and culturally inclusive environment within the hospital.

St John’s remains committed to building on these achievements, continuing to develop initiatives that reflect the health and diverse spirit of its hospital community. “Our staff are the face of St. John’s, living out our vision and mission statement in their interactions with patients, families, and colleagues. I am constantly impressed by the resilience, resolve, compassion, and strength shown by our staff towards their patients and work each day,” says Emer Martin.

Immersive design-based healthcare innovation

Leonard O’Sullivan, Director RIU, School of Design, Health Research Unit, University of Limerick, talks about the Rapid Innovation Unit (RIU), an immersive design-based healthcare innovation collaboration between St John’s Hospital Limerick and the University of Limerick.

The collaboration involves a targeted programme of clinical immersion with direct staff engagement to identify, validate, and create innovations to improve patient care and service delivery.

An inherent outcome of this collaboration at a hospital level is increased creative thinking regarding identifying improvement opportunities, and then also in implementing solutions. The application of design and innovation methods through a collaboration approach with staff enables new approaches to address needs from specific patient through to system level innovations and changes.

In one example, the RIU worked with the team in the Clinical Recovery and Support Unit (CRSU) at St John’s to deliver a solution for a patient with advanced rheumatoid arthritis who spent a month in intensive care following emergency bowel surgery.

The patient, a 68-year-old woman, had difficulty gripping utensils to feed herself due to hand arthritis. Both regular cutlery and special arthritic cutlery were unsuitable for her. After meeting with the patient and the clinical team, the RIU team designed and made bespoke holders to adapt cutlery to fit her hands and the limit grip she had (Figure X). Three versions were created to suit a knife, fork, and spoon.

The design enabled the patient to feed herself independently. In another example staff reported that a manual way of noting patients’ locations in units of the hospital using a white board was inefficient. The RIU team and staff designed a live electronic patient tracker board which detailed the unit of care in the hospital in which the patients currently were. The IT staff of the hospital then implemented the solution. This system has now been expanded to several units of the hospital wherein it

has significantly increased patient flow and efficiency.

A key feature of the RIU collaboration in the hospital is the composition of multidisciplinary innovation teams comprising both clinical experts and design innovators. St John’s Hospital seconded Siobhan Meany, Clinical Nurse Manager Perioperative Care, to the RIU as clinical Innovation Lead where she worked alongside designers. In her role Meany leads the clinical innovation strategy by way of a programme of engagement with clinical groups. In this role, Meany has led local innovation initiatives through to implemented solutions which have subsequently been shared with clinical colleagues on the national stage. One such initiative was the design and implementation of a novel constant pressure saline irrigation solution for laparoscopic surgery which was awarded the Spark Ignite award by the HSE in 2023. Since then, Siobhan was awarded HSE Spark Clinical Fellow. The collaboration between the RIU and St John’s Hospital demonstrates the high impact of multi-disciplinary innovation teams in healthcare systems.

St John’s Hospital

St John’s Square, Limerick, V94H272

T: (061) 462 222

W: www.stjohnshospital.ie

Emer Martin Chief Executive Officer St. John’s Hospital and Siobhan Meany Clinical Lead RIU and Spark Clinical Fellow.

Bespoke cutlery aid for patient with hand arthritis.

Loretto Grogan

Bearing Point AD 2

WHO head of Europe: Reducing environmental and health risks

Francesca Racioppi, head of office at World Health Organization (WHO) European Centre for Environment and Health talks about the interconnectedness of environmental challenges and public health crises across the European continent.

Despite being the continent with many countries being among those with the highest wealth per capita and highest living standards, faces alarming health risks tied to environmental factors. Annually, at least 1.4 million deaths in the 53 countries that make up the WHO European region are attributable to environmental and health risks.

In this context, Racioppi asserts that air pollution stands out as the “leading culprit”, claiming over 500,000 lives each year and contributing to noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular illnesses, dementia, and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Racioppi outlines how intertwined environmental challenges exacerbate health risks.

On climate change, she outlines that Europe is warming at twice the global average, leading to more frequent, more severe and longer lasting heatwaves,

floods, and extreme weather events, with heat claiming more than 175,000 lives annually. “These impacts disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, further widening health inequalities,” she states.

On water quality, Racioppi warns that rural populations in eastern Europe still lack access to clean water. With the deadline of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals approaching, neglect in this area is a “glaring gap that demands immediate redress”.

She also states that the transition to a circular economy “hinges on addressing hazardous chemical exposures” as “without taking into account and controlling for the possible risks of practices such as water reuse for agriculture, there is a possibility of unintended negative health effects that can undermine sustainability goals”.

Climate change a ‘health emergency’

During the prolonged heat wave in summer 2023, for the first time the WHO European Region has declared climate change and extreme weather events as a public health emergency – on a par with pandemics. However, only a handful of European health ministries have already integrated climate considerations into their formal policies.

Racioppi praises Ireland’s leadership in this space, asserting that the Department of Health has not only prioritised climate and health, but has also spearheaded a new WHO partnership for member states to exchange knowledge and build capacity. This commitment, she states, “reflects a recognition that climate resilience and adaptation are essential to sustainable healthcare systems”.

People centric solutions for better healthcare

On the relationship between climate change and health, Racioppi states that the European health sector contributes approximately 5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and urges health leaders to reduce this footprint, adding that it is “not only a moral imperative but also economically beneficial”.

Learning from Covid-19

Describing the Covid-19 pandemic as a “harsh teacher” which “exposed vulnerabilities in public health systems and highlights the consequences of ecological disruption”, Racioppi warns that future pandemics are likely to stem from the emergence of new diseases driven by biodiversity loss and ecosystem encroachment.

In response, the WHO has placed nature preservation at the forefront of its health agenda. Government health departments, however, face “capacity gaps in embedding ecologists and environmental expertise into their operations”.

“This is a governance challenge,” she states, calling for stronger collaboration between health and environment ministries.

Accelerating action: Tools for change

Referring to progress being made at an EU level, including the adoption of new European air quality targets after years of negotiation, Racioppi underscores the need for further collective action by member states at an EU level.

While she acknowledges that some member states have expressed reservations on adopting new, more stringent standards, Racioppi emphasises the need for collective action in order to ensure “tangible benefits for millions of Europeans”.

Implications for Ireland

Ireland’s proactive role in aligning health and environmental strategies positions it as a “model for other countries”, Racioppi states, adding that policymakers in Ireland have “an opportunity to lead by example” by demonstrating how integrated policies can “improve health outcomes while addressing climate and environmental risks”.

“Ministries of health must prioritise environmental health, appointing dedicated experts and fostering intersectoral partnerships.”

By building on initiatives like the WHO partnership and leveraging lessons from Covid-19, Racioppi says that Ireland can continue to shape a healthier, more sustainable future which can be of benefit for the State and for its fellow EU member states.

Vision for the future

Racioppi states that joined-up thinking between health and environmental sectors requires three strands. The first of which is integrated action, of which she states: “Ministries of health must prioritise environmental health, appointing dedicated experts and fostering intersectoral partnerships.”

The second strand is youth engagement. “Young people’s climate anxiety is a reflection of the challenges ahead, but it also underscores the importance of securing their future through decisive action and empowerment of youth in decision-making related to environment and health,” she says.

The third and final strand is “building forward better”. “Post-pandemic recovery must embrace sustainability and equity, ensuring that health systems are resilient to environmental shocks,” she says.

In a message to environmental activists and professionals, she concludes: “At some point, you chose to work in this field because you wanted to make a difference. Let us ensure that difference is realised, for our health, and for our survival.”

A wellbeing economy holds potential for a healthier future for people and planet

Putting health and wellbeing at the heart of policy could help to secure a healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable future in Ireland and Northern Ireland, according to a recently published report and policy brief by the Institute of Public Health (IPH) and EuroHealthNet.

The report, Creating an impactful and sustainable Wellbeing Economy for better public health, and policy brief, Wellbeing Economy: An economy that works for people and planet, explore the potential benefits of adopting a wellbeing economy to reframe how societies define and measure progress.

The report and brief consider how a wellbeing economy could put planetary and human health at the core of all policy and legislation, for all members of society, both now and in the future.

A wellbeing economy moves beyond traditional economic indicators, such as gross domestic product (GDP), to

include a range of new indicators that capture and track wellbeing, happiness, social cohesion and other aspects of health.

By putting health and wellbeing at the heart of all policy, a wellbeing economy places greater emphasis on disease prevention, health promotion, and tackling factors that influence and shape our health, such as, clean air, housing, food, and systemic inequality.

The report considers how wellbeing economy concepts are being progressed and applied globally. It details, for example, how the Welsh Government has introduced a Future Generations Act, which legally mandates the consideration of longterm wellbeing in policymaking and public services.

It highlights the adoption of a wellbeing budget by the New Zealand Government, which puts wellbeing and the environment at the core of national policy, using social, environmental, and fiscal indicators to guide funding.

The joint report also considers how Ireland and Northern Ireland could capitalise on the wellbeing economy concept.

Ireland has been developing a Wellbeing Framework since 2021 and could benefit from continued investment, a greater focus on health as an asset, as well as greater alignment between the framework being developed and current health policies, such as Healthy Ireland and Sláintecare. Ireland’s Wellbeing Framework, which includes 35 indicators across 11 dimensions that encompass quality of life, equality, and sustainability, is due for review by 2026.

In Northern Ireland, the report highlights an opportunity to build on previous work collating data from wellbeing indicators for the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Recent developments in public health in Ireland and Northern Ireland

IPH informs public policy to improve population health on the island of Ireland. We do this by undertaking research and analysis and developing policy briefs and submissions for government departments and parliamentary committees on a range of public health issues. 2024 saw significant commitments and developments to reduce harms from tobacco and nicotine, alcohol, and gambling products in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Alcohol

Northern Ireland: Proposals to introduce Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) for alcohol in Northern Ireland moved a step closer in 2024, following a commitment by Health Minister, Mike Nesbitt MLA, to the Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for Health. This followed an event hosted by IPH at Stormont on the potential of MUP to reduce levels of alcohol harm in Northern Ireland. MUP for alcohol is in place in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.

Tobacco

Northern Ireland: The UK Parliament Tobacco and Vapes Bill was introduced in 2024 to phase out the sale of tobacco and tackle vaping across the UK. A ban on the sale of single use vapes is expected to be introduced in Northern Ireland by April 2025.

IPH provided evidence on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to the Northern Ireland Assembly. IPH also undertook a review of the health effects of vaping in children and adolescents to inform policy development in Northern Ireland, as recently published in The Lancet

Ireland: In 2024, Ireland approved legislation to raise the minimum age of sale of tobacco products to 21 years, putting it on course to be the first country in the European Union to do so.

Gambling

Ireland: The Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland (GRAI) was established under the Gambling Regulation Act 2024 to license and regulate gambling services in Ireland. IPH is a member of GRAI Research Steering Group. As part of the pre-

About the Institute of Public Health

Established as a North/South agency in 1998, the Institute of Public Health (IPH) has been shaping public health policy across the island of Ireland for over 25 years. Our work focuses on promoting health and wellbeing, improving health equity, and reducing health inequalities throughout the life course. IPH is jointly funded by the Departments of Health in Ireland and Northern Ireland and works with a variety of stakeholders across the island, the UK and Europe.

legislative scrutiny process, IPH gave evidence to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice on the Gambling Regulation Bill. A 2023 report, published by IPH, found that almost a quarter of 16-year-olds in Ireland gambled for money in the previous year.

Northern Ireland: In 2024, the Northern Ireland Assembly All-Party Group on Reducing Harm Related to Gambling identified gambling as a significant public health challenge. IPH gave evidence to the APG as part of its 14-

month inquiry, which recommended a public health approach to address gambling-related harms. The Department for Communities is currently consulting on The Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 Gambling Code of Practice. IPH is developing a response to this consultation.

Further information on tobacco, alcohol, gambling and other public health topics can be found at W: www.publichealth.ie

IPH Public Health Development Officer, Joanna Purdy, speaking at a recent IPH event in Stormont on MUP for alcohol.

Opportunities for AI in Ireland’s healthcare system

A device which can recognise 75 different abnormalities on chest x-rays, and the ability to detect Parkinson’s disease from a picture of the back of the eye, are just two examples of benefits which artificial intelligence (AI) could unlock for Ireland’s healthcare system to enhance patient care, says HSE consultant nephrologist and senior lecturer at University of Galway, Conor Judge.

Spending roughly half his time working in the HSE and the other half as a senior lecturer in applied clinical data analytics at the University of Galway, Judge’s primary focus is applying AI solutions to enhance patient care, particularly in the realm of chronic conditions like hypertension.

“We have huge unmet clinical research need whereby the number of AI publications emerging in healthcare, are not matching the number of AI or machine learning enabled medical devices approved by the FDA,” Judge states.

“There are really interesting research examples of AI in healthcare, some of which are being used in Ireland, but most are not in any of our hospitals. The experience of AI devices being used in other countries are very telling and indicate that they can deliver better patient care.”

He points to a medical device called ChestLink, which was developed by Oxipit and was the first AI device that got the CE mark for fully autonomous reporting.

“Oxipit developed this computer vision and model that was able to recognise 75 different abnormalities on chest x-rays,” Judge explains.

“If it did detect one of those 75 abnormalities, then the image was sent back to the consultant radiologist who would then report on the chest xray.”

Judge states that this an example of “task sharing between AI and the physician”, and emphasises that this is something that we will “see more and more of in the next few years”.

The University of Galway lecturer also notes another example of AI technology being used to

People centric solutions for better healthcare

determine the early changes of Parkinson’s disease. A team of researchers in Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, led by Irish ophthalmologist Pearse Kane, developed a computer vision model, training it to consider 1.6 million pictures of the retina.

“The computer vision model is able to detect early changes of multiple eye conditions, such as age related macular degeneration… which is very impressive as it is able to do a task that non-specialists physicians find hard,” Judge states.

“What is more amazing is that this model was also trained to be able to recognise conditions that are not actually associated or previously taught as associated with the eye,” he says, adding: “There was a lot of press coverage about this AI technology being able to detect the early changes of Parkinson’s disease, a disease that we did not think had any relation to the eye.”

AI in Ireland’s hospitals

Judge also hails an AI technology called Deep Resolve, which is used in several MRI scanners throughout Irish hospitals. Developed by Siemens, it has created a computer vision model that takes the raw information from the MRI scan and it recreates the final image that the consultant radiologist is able to see.

“Deep Resolve allows consultants to take a quicker scan with a lower quality of raw data and produce the same image,” Judge states. “Currently, this is in use in many hospitals in Ireland and consensus amongst consultants and academics indicates that the AI technology makes the MRI scanning process 73 per cent faster.”

Judge points to another AI technology used in treating Irish patients who have suffered from strokes or suspected strokes, which was developed by a company called Brainomix. The technology uses computer vision AI algorithms to support doctors by providing real-time interpretation of brain scans to help guide treatment and transfer decisions for stroke patients, allowing more patients to get the right treatment in a timely manner.

Judge says that the technology is “exceptional”, in calculating the ASPECTS score (which is a 10-point quantitative topographic CT scan score used in patients

with middle cerebral artery stroke), and that the company have “automated this whole process using a computer vision model that is in use in many hospitals in Ireland.”

AI and the physician

As the senior lecturer in the University of Galway master’s programme for applied clinical data analytics, Judge speaks extensively about the future potential for multimodal AI, a new paradigm in which various data types are combined with multiple intelligence processing algorithms to achieve higher performances, in medicine.

He illustrates a clinical scenario in which a patient is admitted to hospital and there are multiple points of data collected about the patient.

“Patients come into hospital and their admission note is written down in an unstructured format, they have blood drawn and blood tests sent off that come back in a structured format, then they have medications prescribed –so the name of the medication, the dose, the frequency in which it is administered, is in a structured format, and then they have imaging done which is unstructured,” Judge explains.

“All of this information was reviewed by a general physician, someone that did not have nephrology training, and they failed to recognise that this patient was at risk from a condition called acute kidney injury (AKI), where the kidney function unfortunately gets worse.”

Judge indicates that in the scenario, no changes were made to the patient’s medications and then the next day it was found that the patient developed AKI. He explains that, as a result, this led to an incorrect decision to stop providing the patient with their medications. One of the medications was furosemide, which ensures that patients can release fluid from their body, thus preventing any exacerbation of heart failure.

“This is where something like single-modal AI will not solve the problem because it does not have access to the full information,” he says.

“Multimodal AI provides extra information to make the really nuanced decision where AI can read the unstructured note, read the structured data and read the image as well. So now in this scenario, nuanced changes to medications are made where all medications are stopped with the exception of furosemide and thus the AKI and heart failure is prevented.”

Summarising, while Judge emphasises that in a context where AI technology has the potential to deliver better patient care, clinicians “need the enabling infrastructure inside the HSE” to utilise the AI tools that are used in other parts of the world, to deliver better patient care in Ireland.

Achieving equity and excellence: The National Immunisation Office Strategic Plan 2024-2027

As Director of the National Immunisation Office (NIO) and a consultant in public health medicine, I am delighted to introduce our Strategic Plan 2024-2027, writes Lucy Jessop.

This plan reflects our unwavering commitment to ensuring that everyone in Ireland has the opportunity to benefit from immunisation, one of the most powerful and cost-effective public health tools available.

Immunisation not only saves lives but transforms communities, protecting individuals across all stages of life from vaccine preventable diseases. Our vision is simple but bold: to see Ireland as a nation where every individual, regardless of their background or circumstances, is

protected from vaccine preventable diseases through high-quality, equitable, and person-centred immunisation programmes.

Building on lessons learned

The past few years have been both challenging and informative for immunisation efforts globally and here in Ireland. The Covid-19 pandemic put the importance of vaccines in sharp focus. We witnessed incredible achievements

Lucy Jessop signing the Action Plan pledge to help achieve Cervical Cancer Elimination by Ireland’s target date of 2040.

in vaccine uptake, strengthened collaborations across the health system, and the resilience of communities working together. Yet, alongside these successes, other challenges have emerged.

We have seen a concerning decline in routine childhood vaccination rates, a pattern echoed across the world. Emerging threats like Mpox, and global challenges such as population displacement due to conflict have placed additional pressures on public health services. As the pandemic taught us, we cannot afford to be complacent. We must learn from experience, adapt, and strengthen our immunisation systems for the future.

Our strategic priorities

The Strategic Plan 2024-2027 is built around six core objectives, each designed to address critical needs while preparing us for future challenges:

• Childhood immunisations: Achieving 95 per cent uptake of childhood vaccines is a top priority. This is more than a statistic, it is about protecting children, families, and communities from diseases we know how to prevent. We will work closely with general practitioners (GPs), public health nurses (PHNs), and other healthcare providers to reach underserved communities, ensuring that every child has access to life-saving vaccines.

• School immunisations: Schools are vital settings for ensuring equitable vaccine delivery. We aim to meet WHO targets for vaccines like HPV, a cornerstone of the global effort to eliminate cervical cancer and extend the reach of flu vaccines to all primary school children.

• Adult immunisations: Protecting vulnerable groups, such as older adults, pregnant women, and healthcare workers, is critical. Increasing uptake of influenza vaccines in all eligible groups to 75 per cent and exploring tailored programmes for higher-risk populations, such as gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM), will be key areas of focus.

• Covid-19 vaccination integration: While Covid-19 may no longer be classified as a public health emergency, it remains a significant concern. We will integrate Covid-19 vaccination into routine programmes, ensuring that boosters are available to those who need them.

• Emerging threats and resilience: The pandemic underscored the need for robust systems to respond to outbreaks and unexpected public health crises. Developing scalable vaccination processes and strengthening community trust in vaccines will help us prepare for the future.

• Data and technology: Accurate, timely data is the backbone of effective public health programmes. Our plan includes the development of a National Immunisation Information System (NIIS), which will provide real-time insights into vaccine coverage, identify gaps, and help us ensure no one is left behind.

Equity at the core of our mission

One of the guiding principles of this strategy is equity. We know that certain groups whether due to socioeconomic barriers, geographic location, or other challenges are less likely to access vaccines. Addressing these disparities is not just a moral imperative but a practical one. A population is only as protected as its most vulnerable members.

We are committed to working with communities to understand their specific needs, breaking down barriers, and tailoring our programmes to ensure inclusivity. By partnering with organisations like the HSE National Social Inclusion Office (NSIO), Public Health departments, and community representatives, we can deliver immunisation programmes that truly reflect the diversity of our population.

Collaboration and communication

None of this can be achieved alone. Our success depends on strong, meaningful partnerships with healthcare providers, public health professionals, the

education sector, and most importantly, the communities we serve.

Trust is the foundation of any public health intervention, and clear, accessible communication is essential. We will continue to invest in innovative campaigns that not only share facts but also address concerns, tackle misinformation, and build confidence in vaccines.

A call to action

The journey ahead is ambitious, but I firmly believe that together we can achieve it. By focusing on collaboration, equity, and innovation, the NIO will work to ensure that every person in Ireland has the opportunity to live free from the burden of vaccine-preventable diseases.

I am incredibly proud of the multidisciplinary team at the NIO and the dedication they bring to their work every day. With the support of our partners and the public, I am confident we can deliver on these objectives and make Ireland a leader in immunisation excellence.

Let us move forward together, with determination and a shared commitment to equity and health for all.

You can read the National Immunisation Office Strategic Plan 2024-2027 here:

W: www.immunisation.ie

X: @hseimm

Instagram: @hseimm

YouTube: National Immunisation Office

People

Exploring how Ireland can effectively fund its health service

the ability to “greatly improve the efficient and equitable allocation of health and social care resources”, research by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) asserts.

The ESRI’s report, entitled An analysis of Population-Based Resource Allocation for health and social care in Ireland, states that “substantial investment and political commitment are required to ensure the necessary changes are fully realised”, to implement a structured and organised healthcare system in Ireland.

The report focuses on evaluating the current resource allocation mechanisms within Ireland’s healthcare system and exploring the potential of implementing population-based resource allocation (PBRA) mechanisms within proposed HSE health regions (HRs).

PBRA mechanisms are employed successfully in other countries, and offer a structured approach to allocate healthcare resources based on population needs. These models consider various factors such as age, health status and socioeconomic conditions, with the ambition to ensure a more equitable distribution of healthcare services.

The report states that the implementation of PBRA will change “how funding allocations occur within the HSE and Irish health and social care more generally”. It calls for a “convergence or transition process”, akin to that used in the National Health Service (NHS) England, and should be employed to gradually move from initial funding levels to target allocations, ensuring that sudden financial impacts are mitigated.

Building on foundations

The ESRI’s report is set within a number of important contexts, most notably building upon the Sláintecare Report and the Government’s goal to increase devolution of decision-making to local decision-makers. Secondly, it is set within the context for the need to implement PBRA and to develop a more integrated system of care.

Since the publication of the Sláintecare report, and subsequent Sláintecare implementation plans, there has been

People centric solutions for better healthcare

increased preparation and governance. The Department of Health have outlined the appropriateness of a PBRA approach based upon the regionalisation of health and social care.

In 2020, then Minister for Health, Simon Harris TD, outlined plans to develop six HSE HRs. These HRs would incorporate community healthcare organisations and hospital group structures in a conterminous geographical structure. However, the emergence of the Covid19 pandemic stalled the establishment of regional bodies, with much of the response to the pandemic undertaken at a centralised level.

Potential in PBRA

The introduction of PBRA within Ireland’s healthcare system would represent a pivotal advancement for policymakers and healthcare users. The report states there is a “clear necessity” for Ireland to establish a system-wide PBRA system based upon the design fundamentals of PBRA systems used in healthcare systems internationally.

The report states: “The adoption of PBRA is not merely a policy change, it is a fundamental shift towards a more equitable, efficient and needs-based distribution of healthcare resources.”

The successes of PBRA in Ireland would therefore mark a significant milestone, not only in terms of policy implementation, but also in improving healthcare outcomes and addressing disparities across regions.

However, Ireland is currently experiencing “substantial challenges” in relation to waiting lists for health and social care. In many instances, these waiting lists are a consequence of workforce shortages or potentially lack of capacity.

While these shortages, at both national and regional level, are caused by many factors, implementing PBRA may improve the ability of policymakers to better plan the resource requirements in the medium term, as well as reduce inequities in workforce and capacity across different health and social care sectors, and across regions.

In 2022, the Department of Health published a report entitled Towards Population-Based Funding for Health, presenting options for a new PBRA mechanism for Ireland. The report outlined a potential model for allocating HSE resources, with the proposed PBRA formula being based on models from other countries, such as the UK, Australia, and Canada.

The proposed PBRA formula in particular, as stated in this paper, lays the foundation for future iterations of PBRA. It incorporates fundamental elements from international PBRA mechanisms, focusing on population size, age-sex composition, deprivation and rurality, parameters consistently used when determining healthcare demand and expenditure requirements. However, as the first such model to be potentially implemented within the Irish healthcare system, this process demands ongoing evaluation and refinement. In addition, its practical application in the unique Irish healthcare context will require careful monitoring and adjustments, in order to ensure it meets the specific needs and challenges of the Irish healthcare system as they arise.

Conclusion and analysis

The ESRI’s report states that the introduction of a PBRA model in Ireland “has the ability to greatly improve the efficient and equitable allocation of health and social care resources”.

It notes that while developing a PBRA formulae is essential in addressing the constraints and problems the State’s health care system is facing, the most difficult factor is securing stakeholder agreements and embedding PBRA mechanisms across the healthcare system.

The report concludes: “It is vital that the introduction of PBRA is not treated simply as an important key performance indicator, but rather that PBRA and HSE HRs represent the first stage in a multiyear process of integration, coordination and transparency, and devolution of important decisions to local decisionmakers.”

Anne O’Connor: Tracing the evolving model of Irish healthcare delivery

Anne O’Connor discusses her remit as Managing Director of Vhi Health and Wellbeing, and the evolving role of the semi-state healthcare provider.

Most publicly recognised for her role leading the HSE’s operational response to the Covid pandemic and the cyberattack of 2021, O’Connor’s experience spans an almost 30-years in public health, having initially trained as an occupational therapist in the UK before moving back to Ireland.

In the main, she has spent much of that career in mental health services, an area which she describes as her “first love”. A

decade of service in management roles from 2000 onwards culminated in her appointment as the National Director of Mental Health in 2014, and in 2018 she was appointed deputy Director General and Chief Operation Officer.

Given the length of O’Connors tenure and breadth of her experience, her announcement in April 2022 that she would be leaving to join the largest health insurer in the State as its

Managing Director of Health and Wellbeing, came as a surprise to many.

Asked about her decision to join Vhi, she says: “It is a very different construct. Vhi is the only health insurer on the market that exists solely for the benefit of our members. Any profits made are reinvested on behalf of our members to enhance Vhi members healthcare and services. This is an important differentiator for me.”

Credit: Fianna Fáil

“Vhi is the only health provider that exists solely for the benefit of our members. Any profits made are re-invested on behalf of our members to enhance Vhi members healthcare and services. This is an important differentiator for me.”

Anne O’Connor, Managing Director, Vhi Health and Wellbeing

She said “Vhi’s strategy aligns with the objectives of Sláintecare, supporting improved healthcare delivery in Ireland by providing better access to healthcare, delivering efficiencies, and enhancing healthcare outcomes.”

O’Connor’s decision to transition into health insurance is symptomatic of the accelerated evolution of traditional health insurers such as Vhi, and the changing model of healthcare provision.

With almost half the population of the State now holding private health insurance, organisations like Vhi have not only broadened the health care expenses they are willing to imburse, including around community care and wellbeing, but also provide urgent care and other clinical services to members.

O’Connor is overseeing Vhi’s provision of a wider range of services in its larger ‘360 Health Centres’, including diagnostics, targeted screening, women’s health, paediatrics, orthopaedics, wound care, physiotherapy, psychology, and dermatology.

Alongside the 360 Health Centres – currently operating in Dublin, Limerick, and Cork –O’Connor’s remit includes clinical call centre, digital platforms, and Vhi’s Hospital@Home service.

“What really attracted me was that Vhi, as the largest health insurer in the State, has a strong

commitment and strategy to develop health services for its members,” O’Connor explains.

Asked about her initial reflections upon joining Vhi, she says: “With more than 1.2 million members, it had a scale that was appealing to me and having been in public healthcare in various remits, I wanted to go somewhere that would challenge me and where I could learn. A regulated insurance company with a group structure is a very different environment than what I had become used to.

“Interestingly, I quickly acknowledged that I, and many other senior decision-makers working in the public health service, know very little about the work organisations like Vhi do within the health sector. The healthcare ecosystem is much larger than many people realise, and I think there are barriers to recognising innovation and effectively collaborating on delivering new systems and solutions.”

O’Connor asserts that, despite its relatively small population by global standards, the State’s healthcare demands exceed the volume of its services, even if both public and private services were fully utilised.

As a result, she says: “There is an onus on us to decide who does what. Who is best placed to respond to certain demand and how can we best break down the gap in supply and demand.”

People centric solutions for better healthcare

Outlining her assessment that the public health service must serve the most vulnerable and most in need, she insists: “Healthcare should not be a competition. There are people who attend health services who will have had interactions with many state agencies and who have multiple conditions and morbidities. They need very complex care and the public health services, situated alongside the other vital public services should be ideally placed to help those people.”

The Health and Wellbeing Managing Director identifies the Covid-19 pandemic as a point of inflection around how the private sector supported the State’s healthcare delivery. Reiterating that roughly half of Ireland’s population now actively choose to have private health insurance, she says that this choice is driving the expansion of services on offer.

Importantly, she states, those services and the requirements within those services are underpinned by the exact same fundamentals driving public health care delivery, namely: quality, patient safety, and skilled staff responding to need.

Describing the impact of the pandemic on evolving demands for healthcare and wellbeing services, O’Connor explains: “We see a big focus on people trying to stay well and taking a preventative approach toward their health. I believe that a greater focus on individual wellness during the pandemic has driven that.

“In the HSE, as part of the response to Covid, we stood up a whole workstream around access to online healthcare, mainly because we had to at the time. Now, within Vhi, and indeed, many other healthcare providers, telehealth is a mainstay, because people saw the benefits of it and now expect it. Simultaneously, there was a discernible benefit for healthcare providers being able to efficiently respond to demand.

“There is a recognisable advantage in the ability to scale digital healthcare responses in a way that is not possible face-to-face, and I think there is definitely scope for further cross sector collaboration, instead of reverting to traditional models of delivery.”

Future outlook

With much of Vhi’s healthcare provision predating O’Connor’s arrival – the Vhi 360 Health Centre in Carrickmines, for example, providing members with access to urgent care for minor injuries and illnesses, 365 days a year – the Managing Director of Health and Wellbeing says that her focus has been on integrating its available services and becoming a more cohesive and networked organisation, utilising multidisciplinary teams.

“Ultimately, we are all on the same journey of attempting to bend the cost curve of healthcare delivery, whether that is in public systems or healthcare providers. Essentially that means trying to intervene earlier to reduce the need for people to use higher cost, higher complexity services. Vhi is no different and in response we are developing integrated pathways for our members, delivered by the right professionals.”

O’Connor points to the introduction of solutions such as a single electronic patient record across all Vhi’s services, as an example of a shared goal between public and private providers, but one which has faced greater barriers in the public system.

Discussing alignment with the delivery of Sláintecare, Ireland’s plan for reforming healthcare delivery, she says: “Vhi’s purpose is to support our members to live longer, stronger, and healthier lives. Our core values are centred on supporting people to stay well. There is total alignment with Sláintecare’s drive towards early intervention, ensuring services are available at the right time and in the right place.”

Summarising her ambitions for the year ahead, O’Connor says: “In 2025 we intend to open our Galway 360 Health Centre, which is part of a broader assessment of developing our physical footprint and our services. Simultaneously, I want to continue to foster those relationships and partnerships with the public healthcare sector and other providers, to share innovations and respond to the demands of the population.”

Nursing home consolidation poses ‘significant risk’

Overreliance on a small number of owners dominating the private nursing home market could pose a “significant risk” to the sector and its tenants if a financial shock were to occur.

A report on the regulation of nursing homes between 2009 and 2024, published in October 2024 by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), states that “many smaller, local nursing homes, especially in rural Ireland, have closed in recent years, leading to a loss of these community-based homes”.

The HIQA report further demonstrates the trend towards larger nursing homes with more beds. In addition, the profile of nursing home ownership in the sector is changing, with evidence of consolidation by large corporate groups.

If one of these organisations experience financial challenges in the future – a trend which may emerge if the ongoing housing crisis is not resolved in the medium to long term –the report warns that this would pose a “significant risk to the nursing home sector and impact significantly on the people living in these centres”.

“Nursing homes are growing in size and catering for larger numbers while smaller nursing homes are likely to close,” the HIQA states.

On care, the report is more positive, stating that “significant progress” has

been made in enhancing the quality of care in nursing homes, although continued improvement is necessary.

The HIQA further says that nursing home care has moved away from a medical, institutional model towards a social model of care, explaining that the HIQA has sought to embed a “human rights approach” to care in the sector.

The report further stipulates that the Chief Inspector’s approach to regulation has “evolved over the years, including changes to its inspection process, using IT to better support regulation, and an increased emphasis on promoting the voice of residents”.

Over the 15-year period, the report states that HIQA’s Chief Inspector of Social Services, through the regulatory framework regulatory framework and her regulatory powers, has driven “improvements in the sector, working to ensure that residents are protected and are receiving safe, quality care and support”.

Carol Grogan, Chief Inspector of Social Services in HIQA says: “Over the past 15 years, we have consistently seen how important the relationship between regulatory compliance and good governance and management is in nursing homes.

“Many providers have worked hard to improve their compliance, resulting in stronger governance and management arrangements being put in place. This has led to better outcomes for residents and tangible improvements to their lived experiences. Many services are now providing care that is more person centred, with residents exercising more choice, enjoying a greater degree of privacy and dignity and being supported to live more meaningful lives.”

Plasma for medicine

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service’s (IBTS) Medical and Scientific Director, Andrew Godfrey and Director of Production and Hospital Services, Barry Doyle talk to eolas Magazine about the future of plasma derived medicines in Ireland and the organisation’s vision for plasma collection, and the successful delivery of a strategic initiative – the reintroduction of Irish plasma for therapeutic use.

Remember ‘mad-cow disease’? In 2001, the IBTS decided to import plasma from areas free from Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) to reduce the risk of transmission of variant CreutzfeldtJakob disease (vCJD), the human form of BSE. This was part of several precautionary steps taken, when the possibility of transmission of vCJD by blood transfusion first emerged. After over two decades of importing plasma from abroad, the Irish Blood Transfusion Service are now producing bulk plasma for human therapeutic use again.

Plasma is the liquid part of your blood that carries red cells, platelets and white blood cells around the body. It makes up approximately 55 per cent of your blood. It contains clotting factors that help to stop bleeding, and antibodies, known as immunoglobulins, which fight infection. Plasma can be transfused as liquid plasma, processed into other plasma products, such as cryopreciptate or used as a source of important medicinal products known as plasma derived medicinal products (PDMPs). These are

therapeutic agents essential to lifesaving healthcare, which are obtained by a combination of large-scale processing steps called fractionation.

“In addition to the the importation of plasma for therapeutic use there was also an embargo on the collection and use of Irish donor plasma for fractionation into PDMPs. However, time has moved on and the risk of vCJD has been carefully re-assessed and the IBTS are now processing plasma for fractionation again to make essential medicines,” says Godfrey.

The fractionation processes used by plasma manufacturers are highly complex and specialised, and result in the separation of individual protein components of plasma, which are purified and subjected to pathogen inactivation. These products are used for the treatment of a variety of conditions including immune disorders, neurological disorders, blood disorders and infectious diseases.

One of the products most needed by patients is immunoglobulin which is used to reduce the effects of some inflammatory diseases, boost immunity and help fight infections in some immune-compromised patients. As well as immunoglobulins, plasma also contains a protein called albumin, which is used to treat people with liver disease, kidney failure, and major burns.

There is a significant deficit in the volume of plasma currently being collected in Europe and there is a drive to achieve self-sufficiency for PDMP production. Until recently, Ireland did not contribute to the plasma supply in Europe to make PDMPs.

Europe is heavily reliant on the United States and the EU is seeking greater security and control of its plasma collection and PDMP availability. Optimising the plasma collection supply chain is essential to removing the vulnerability and reliance on outside sources of PDMPs.

Andrew Godfrey, Medical and Scientific Director, Irish Blood Transfusion Service.

Barry Doyle, Director of Production and Hospital Services, Irish Blood Transfusion Service.

During routine processing of blood, the red cells are separated from the plasma. Previously in Ireland this plasma was discarded or used in the manufacture of laboratory reagents. Now this plasma, known as recovered plasma, will undergo controlled freezing, storage and shipping to a manufacturer to make medicinal products.

Medicinal plasma will be returned for use in Irish hospitals and any plasma that is surplus to the requirements of the Irish healthcare system will be used in the manufacture of other medicinal products such as immunoglobulin. This ensures that we make best use of every donation for patients in Ireland as well as contributing to the European pool of plasma.

The IBTS will enter its final year of its strategy ‘Connections that Count’ in 2025 and the reintroduction of plasma for therapeutic use is a key strategic initiative delivered under this current strategy.

“It was a significant undertaking encompassing all aspects of the organisation from donation clinic to plasma distribution,” according to Doyle.

Manufacturing experience and engineering skills were utilised to supplement existing technical and clinical expertise. “The project entailed infrastructure changes in the blood processing area in the National Blood Centre, the implementation of industrial freezing technology and a suite of electronic system changes to enable the management of plasma product and data.

The IBTS has now introduced plasma handling, freezing and storage processes compliant with industry regulations for medicinal products and the first shipment of plasma for fractionation took place in December 2024,” Doyle adds.

Optimising the plasma collection supply chain is essential to removing the vulnerability and reliance on outside sources of PDMPs.

What is the future for plasma medicines?

There is an ever increasing demand for PDMPs estimated to increase 6 per cent year on year, and the recovered plasma shipped for fractionation will only partly meet the healthcare needs for PDMPs, especially immunoglobulin.

The indications for PDMPs are continuously expanding, as is the portfolio of medications which can be derived from source plasma. Many patients are completely reliant on regular infusions of PDMPs, but currently Europe can only meet around 60 per cent of its overall need for PDMPs and for some products the proportion is much lower.

To ensure we can meet the future needs of patients in Ireland, and become fully self-sufficient, additional plasma must be collected directly from donors in a process called plasmapheresis. This is where blood is removed from the donor, plasma is separated and the red cells returned to the donor. This is known as source plasma and the IBTS is well placed to commence this as we already collect platelet donations in a similar way.

Plasma donors can safely donate a larger volume at each visit and much more frequently than whole blood donors and so are key to meeting this gap.

Most European countries collect source plasma to supplement the plasma supply. Following the removal of restrictions relating to vCJD, source plasma collection is now possible in Ireland and the IBTS are in the early stages of scoping what this strategic development might look like.

T: 01 432 2800 W: www.giveblood.ie

Sarah Jane O'Dwyer

Learning analytics: Decreasing preventable harm in healthcare

The development of a national learning analytics (NLA) capability represents a transformative opportunity for the future of healthcare in Ireland, write Martin McCormack, Chief Executive Officer, and George Shorten, immediate past president, College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland.

The landmark report To Err is Human (2000) by the Institute of Medicine exposed a critical truth: as many as 98,000 people in the United States die annually from medical errors and preventable injuries in hospitals. By 2022, this figure had risen to 227,000 deaths per annum, making preventable injury the third leading cause of death in the US, surpassing fatalities from stroke, diabetes, and liver disease. These statistics underscore the urgent need for systemic reform to address the persistent challenge of medical errors.

Achievement of the “quadruple aim” in healthcare (improved individual experience of healthcare; improved population health; decreased cost per capita of healthcare; and improved experience of

providing healthcare) requires a systems-based approach which relies heavily on its management of information.

In Ireland, as in the US, similar concerns have been highlighted. The Irish National Adverse Events Study (INAES), which reviewed incidents in eight hospitals in 2009, reported an incidence of 10.3 adverse events per 100 admissions. These findings further emphasise the systemic flaws within healthcare systems that require a datadriven approach to patient safety.

Learning analytics (LA) is relatively new discipline that has developed extensively within higher education over the past decade; it focuses both on the learning process of students and on monitoring

“The joint development of a national analytics capability would empower healthcare leaders in the HSE and policymakers in the Department of Health with actionable insights.”

Martin Mc Cormack, Chief Executive Officer, and George Shorten, Immediate Past President, College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland

their trajectories in training programmes.

Recognising this, the Forum of Postgraduate Medical Training Bodies (Forum of PGTBs), the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Department of Health, and the State Claims Agency agreed to collaborate to develop an NLA capability.

Grounded in the recommendations of the 2021 Forum of Postgraduate Medical Training Bodies Strategy, such a capability would apply analytics to deliver timely personalised feedback on clinical performance to healthcare professionals, better match training to specific risks and to design ‘just in time’ targeted education to where patterns of preventable harm are identified as recurrent. This collective effort marks a crucial step toward healthcare which is more consistently safe.

A unified approach to learning from errors

Both To Err is Human and the Forum of PGTBs’ strategy stress the importance of system-wide learning to prevent errors and improve outcomes. However, as Ireland builds new regional executive organisations (REOs) and implements new electronic health records (EHRs), healthcare data remains fragmented, limiting the ability to identify patterns and address systemic issues effectively.

In particular, the information systems around clinical care and those around training of healthcare professionals have each evolved dramatically in recent years, but separately. Ideally, a systems-based approach would access relevant data in an ethical manner and present the results of analysis in a timely and comprehensible manner to the person or persons who is both responsible and capable of responding to them. The response itself is then captured and forms an important data stream as the system matures and adapts.

An electronic healthcare record is a fundamental piece of digital infrastructure for a modern healthcare organisation. In many countries healthcare professionals have become familiar with and adept at interacting with an EHR as they provide clinical care. Frameworks have been proposed to integrate the EHR into education and training; such potential is currently underexploited.

A national learning analytics capability would harmonise the analysis of data available from clinical sources (such as an EHR), from training sources (such as a learning management system), and from registries of adverse events (such as INAES). This approach would leverage the insights provided into the transfer of learning to practice using newly developed data analytics tools This unified approach would in turn enable the implementation of preventative measures and support targeted interventions, addressing the call of the Forum of PGTBs’ strategy to reduce unintended harm.

Improving feedback on clinical performance

Accurate, actionable feedback is essential for continuous professional development and improving patient outcomes. However, feedback mechanisms in many healthcare settings are often inconsistent and reactive, limiting their effectiveness.

A national analytics capability would transform these processes, providing clinicians with realtime and ‘highly informative’ insights, while enhancing the learning efficacy of professionals. For example, detailed performance metrics for specific skills could be benchmarked against proficiency standards, enabling clinicians to identify strengths and areas for improvement. 4

Reducing unintended harm through education

Unintended harm often arises from systemic flaws or knowledge gaps that traditional training methods cannot adequately address. By analysing patterns in clinical errors and adverse events, the national learning analytics capability could inform the development of specialist training programmes.

For example, learning analytics might reveal the team characteristics, events, and circumstances which, when coincident, tend to predispose to greater risk. This in turn provides granular targets for training scenarios including using simulation.

This approach ensures that certain training efforts are focused where they are needed most, reducing harm and enhancing patient safety.

Enhancing system design for patient safety

The collaboration between the Forum of PGTBs, the HSE, the Department of Health, Science Foundation Ireland research centres, and the State Claims Agency reflects a shared commitment to addressing the systemic issues underlying medical errors.

This aligns closely with To Err is Human which emphasises that “good people are working in bad systems” and calls for structural changes to improve safety. A national learning analytics capability would help REOs to adopt a proactive approach to system design.

Core LA functions would include aggregation, interpretation, prediction, and visualisation using data of quite different types and sources. Predictive learning analytics could identify risk factor aggregates for such events as potential drug errors or communication failures, enabling highly targeted training interventions. This proactive stance is essential for building safer and more resilient healthcare systems.

Strengthening leadership and policy development

Leadership is critical to driving the patient safety agenda. However, effective leadership requires access to reliable, comprehensive data to guide decision-making and evaluate the impact of initiatives.

The joint development of a national analytics capability would empower healthcare leaders in the HSE and policymakers in the Department of Health with actionable insights. Aggregated data on clinical outcomes and patient safety could inform resource allocation, policy adjustments, and strategic planning. The State Claims Agency’s involvement further highlights the potential for analytics to mitigate risks and reduce litigation costs, reinforcing the value of this initiative.

Breaking down silos for system-wide learning

Healthcare in Ireland, as in many countries, often operates in silos, with limited communication and data sharing between organisations dealing with the same patient.

This fragmentation hampers efforts to learn from errors and disseminate best practices. Given its data science expertise, and the partnership approach being adopted (across state agencies, research centres, the HSE, and training bodies), Ireland may be particularly well positioned to deliver a nationally coordinated facility which achieves benefits for patients in years rather than decades.

This aligns well with the LA Action List proposed by the Science for Policy Reports Joint Research Centre “to create organisational structures to support the use of learning analytics and help educational leaders to implement these changes”.

The collaborative approach to developing a national analytics capability aims to break down silos, creating a shared platform for data collection, analysis, and learning. For instance, information on near-misses and adverse events could be pooled across REOs to identify national trends and inform consistent safety guidelines. Such integration would foster a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement, benefiting patients and providers alike.

Empowering healthcare professionals and patients

The national learning analytics initiative has the potential to empower both clinicians and patients. For clinicians, access to real-time analytics would support their professional development, improving confidence and competence.

For patients, increased transparency around safety performance would build trust and encourage active participation in their own care. Moreover, patient-reported outcomes and experiences could be integrated into the analytics framework, providing a more holistic view of healthcare quality.

This reflects the priorities of the national Patient Safety Office and National Patient Safety Council: advancing patient safety while enhancing the overall care experience.

Conclusion

The development of a national learning analytics capability represents a transformative opportunity for healthcare in Ireland. By uniting the efforts of the Forum of PGTBs, the HSE, the Department of Health, and the State Claims Agency, this initiative addresses the unavoidable conclusion that recurrent patterns of preventable harm occur much too often in Ireland and elsewhere and provides a means by which to delivered targeted interventions to lessen them.

Through centralised data collection, real-time personalised feedback, targeted education, and proactive system design, a national analytics infrastructure would not only serve to decrease the incidence of unintended harm, but also drive a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

As the healthcare system in Ireland faces growing complexity and pressure, the ability to learn from data will be essential for delivering safer, more effective, and more equitable care. This collaborative effort is not just a step forward – it is a vital investment in the future of Irish healthcare.

Technology and innovation report

Fresh Thinking

What are the public sector’s digital transformation trends for 2025?

Martin Ryan,

Managing Director at Fexco Managed and Advisory Services, examines potential Public Sector trends in 2025.

As the year concludes, the Irish public sector will continue to focus on delivering profound digital transformation.

The push continues for increased investment and procurement of modern digital government and public services. These align with strategies like Harnessing Digital: Digital Ireland Framework and Connecting Government 2030, which sees Ireland targeting 90 per cent of applicable public services to be consumed online by 2030, surpassing EU targets.

2024 has seen significant developments in artificial intelligence, with further disruption as the global AI race continues unabated into 2025.

Amid these evolving challenges and opportunities, what are the pivotal trends for 2025, and how can they reshape public service delivery?

Key trends: Building on established foundations

1. Citizen-centric service delivery

We have discussed how the cornerstone of digital transformation lies in citizen-centric design. Public sector organisations prioritise platforms that provide seamless, userfriendly access to services. This approach entails understanding user needs, simplifying service access, and ensuring platform consistency.

Initiatives like the “once-only” principle, where citizens provide information once for reuse across services, enhance efficiency and accessibility. Simplifying processes through standardised frameworks ensures inclusivity while prioritising feedback loops with citizens for continuous improvement.

2. Cybersecurity and regulatory compliance

The increasing complexity of cybersecurity threats demands robust measures; frameworks like NIS2 and DORA mandate ICT risk management and operational resilience to protect critical services.

Our expertise in regulated services and our international financial services footprint can support the public sector to meet these challenges, leveraging our strict adherence to international standards and use of secure, compliant systems.

3. Digital payments and embedded finance

Modernising payment systems is essential for the digitalisation of public finance. Embedded finance solutions simplify financial processes for citizens and governments alike, such as the use of corporate payment solutions from CBI regulated entities.

Our four decades of expertise in these areas ensure secure, efficient, and userfriendly payment experiences, contributing to the broader digital transformation goals.

Big trends for 2025: New frontiers

1. Widespread adoption of AI in public sector services

Artificial Intelligence emerged as the hot topic of 2024, but adoption was primarily evidenced by pilot projects and early industry movers. 2025 may be the year of widespread adoption of AI in public sector services but only successful if AI services are designed and built with safety, governance, and accuracy at their core.

AI can redefine public sector operations and are pivotal in managing growing service demands without inflating costs.

Solutions like Fexco’s generative AI service SmartAssist integrates Artificial and Human intelligence, enhancing service delivery, increasing efficiency, and simply “making life easier” for all users, including colleagues and citizens, all the while staying firmly within the guardrails of the guidelines for the safe use of AI in the Public Service. Queries on Fexco’s SmartAssist services should be directed to Ailish Hansen [ahansen@fexco.com].

2. Public-private partnerships

Collaboration between the public and private sectors is accelerating innovation, and 2025 is predicted to see new public-private partnerships emerging to deliver new solutions, services, and experiences to the ultimate benefit of Irish society. These partnerships will combine technological expertise, operational efficiency, and investment to enhance public services.

At Fexco, partnerships are more than just a term; they are a core value that has driven our success for over 40 years. We are incredibly proud of the trusted partnerships we have developed with some of the most impactful organisations in Irish society, such as The PrizeBonds Company, which is a 50:50 joint venture between An Post and Fexco, contracted by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA)

Fresh Thinking

to operate the Prize Bonds Scheme and has been operating since 1989.

Our experience in co-creating tailored solutions highlights the transformative potential of such collaborations. For instance, our strategic partnership with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has moved beyond traditional service delivery to a valuedriven, trusted partnership focused on balancing the correct blend of people, process and technology solutions to contribute to a more sustainable future for us all. This partnership between SEAI and Fexco was recognised in November 2024 by winning the coveted CCMA Outsource Partnership of the Year award.

Through these partnerships, Fexco demonstrates how collaboration can enhance citizen and business engagement amid pervasive digital disruption, ultimately delivering superior public services.

Conclusion

The digital transformation trends for 2025 reflect Ireland’s ambition to lead in delivering efficient, inclusive, and transparent public services. While the potential benefits are immense, maintaining alignment with citizen needs is paramount.

Practical implementation strategies, such as prioritising feedback, embracing agility, and fostering collaboration, will be critical. With forward-thinking

organisations like Fexco driving innovation, the Irish public sector is poised to build a digital future that meets the expectations of a modern, engaged society.

Ireland’s digital transformation journey is a bold step towards an inclusive and sustainable future. The sector has ambitious targets aligned with government plans. As demands increase, how will the public sector achieve these goals while balancing the growing impact of AI in 2025? The public sector can navigate evolving challenges while delivering impactful services by focusing on user-centric design, embracing advanced technologies, and fostering collaboration.

Overall, the big trend for 2025 underscores the importance of balancing technological innovation with human needs. The groundwork laid today will shape a thriving digital society for years.

W: www.fexco.ie

Fresh Thinking

Understanding the EU AI Act

Thierry Boulangé, Deputy Head of Unit at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content, and Technology, outlines the EU AI Act’s goals and implementation framework.

The EU AI Act, which entered into force in August 2024, is the world’s first comprehensive legislation regulating AI. Its goal is to ensure that AI systems are safe, uphold fundamental rights, and foster innovation.

Boulangé goes into detail on the Act’s tiered, risk-based framework, which is designed to harmonise rules across EU member states and prevent a fragmented regulatory landscape.

The Act categorises AI systems into four levels of risk:

1. Unacceptable risk: AI applications deemed harmful, such as social scoring systems or those designed to manipulate individuals, are banned outright.

2. High risk: AI used in critical areas, such as recruitment, justice, law enforcement, and essential public services, must meet stringent requirements to protect safety and rights.

3. Limited risk: Systems interacting with humans (e.g., chatbots) must meet transparency obligations to ensure users are aware they are engaging with AI.

4. Minimal or no risk: Most AI systems fall into this category and face no specific regulatory obligations but can voluntarily adhere to codes of conduct.

The inclusion of rules for general-purpose AI models, like foundational models that power generative AI systems, was a key addition during negotiations. Developers of these systems must provide documentation to ensure responsible integration and use, with enhanced obligations for systems that pose systemic risks.

Governance and implementation

The Act establishes a robust governance structure to oversee its enforcement and implementation. High-risk AI systems will be monitored by national authorities, while the European AI Office, recently established, will handle cross-border and general-purpose AI cases. Complementary entities, such as the AI Board and the Advisory Forum, will enable coordination among member states, regulators, and stakeholders.

The implementation timeline reflects a staged approach:

• February 2025: Prohibitions on unacceptable AI practices apply.

• August 2025: Obligations for general-purpose AI models apply

• 2026-2027: Obligations for high-risk AI and transparency requirements will gradually roll out, culminating in full implementation by 2027.

For Irish stakeholders, Boulangé states that this phased rollout provides time to prepare for compliance while ensuring a smooth transition for businesses and innovators.

Supporting innovation amid regulation

A cornerstone of the EU AI Act, Boulangé says, is its emphasis on fostering innovation. To support developers, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the European Commission has launched initiatives like the AI Innovation Accelerator and regulatory sandboxes. These tools offer technical guidance and testing environments to help businesses align with the Act’s requirements while remaining competitive.

He says that standardisation will also play a crucial role. Technical standards for high-risk AI systems are under development in collaboration with European and international bodies, ensuring consistency and adaptability as technology evolves. These standards will provide clarity for developers, helping them meet regulatory requirements efficiently.

Fresh Thinking

Collaborative stakeholder engagement

Asserting that the Commission prioritises inclusivity in its implementation efforts, Boulangé says that the newlylaunched AI Pact, which includes over 120 organisations, aims to foster collaboration across industries and geographies. “By engaging businesses, civil society, and regulatory bodies, the Pact encourages the sharing of best practices and provides early feedback to refine the implementation modalities of the regulatory framework,” he says.

Boulangé highlights the importance of creating pathways for smaller players to contribute to and benefit from these processes. This is particularly relevant for Ireland, where SMEs form the backbone of the economy and are often at the forefront of AI-driven innovation.

International implications

The EU AI Act’s influence extends beyond Europe. Boulangé notes ongoing international collaboration, such as the recent Council of Europe treaty on AI, which incorporates global partners like the US, Japan, and Canada. Ireland’s strategic position as a tech hub places it at the intersection of EU and global AI ecosystems, offering opportunities to shape and benefit from these frameworks.

What this means for Ireland

Boulangé states that the Act also incentivises innovation, offering support for startups and SMEs to lead in the development of trustworthy AI.

For public and private leaders, the immediate priorities include:

• Understanding the Act: Familiarise teams with its risk-based framework and upcoming obligations.

• Engaging in standardisation: Participate in developing technical standards to ensure the needs of Irish companies are represented.

• Leveraging support mechanisms: Take advantage of EU-funded initiatives like regulatory sandboxes and innovation accelerators.

Concluding, Boulangé asserts that, as the AI landscape continues to evolve, the AI Act will position the EU as a “leader in shaping ethical and innovative AI systems”.

Across the public service there is a clear commitment to digitalisation and innovation. The digital landscape is ever evolving and the integration of technology and digital channels into our everyday life has been rapid and extensive.

We all interact with digital channels every day, and people have come to expect user friendly and well-designed digital channels when they interact with businesses and public services. Digital Transformation describes the development of digital technologies to improve the way we do business and goes beyond replicating existing processes into digital formats. It requires a ‘digital by design’ approach.

In the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), there are a number of digital and innovation projects taking place to make the processes of procuring goods, services and public works projects easier, more efficient and more sustainable. One of those projects is based on the eTenders platform, Ireland’s national electronic tendering website. Each year, thousands of EU and national-level competitions are published on the eTenders website. A number of updates and improvements have recently been made to the site to make it more

intuitive and easier to use.

Firstly, the homepage has been updated to be more user-friendly. Information is now easier to find and the look and feel of the site has been improved. Regular eTenders users might have noticed that there is now new, more focused ‘task-specific’ training videos available to help with the more common tasks for both Buyers and Suppliers.

Information for contracting authorities

Contracting authorities will be glad to know that there have been a number of other practical changes to the eTenders platform, including:

• Contracting authority users now have access to a printer friendly Tender Report for tenders received on the platform. This report, which can be accessed when opening received tenders, allows the contracting authority users to more

clearly identify the original name of the files uploaded by suppliers in response to a tender. Previously, a contacting authority user could only view the system-generated unique identifier number and not the original assigned by the supplier

• Improvements to the Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) Workflow to support offline evaluations – The DPS workflow has been enhanced to allow optionality around the usage of the online questionnaire when defining a tender structure.

• Removal of the requirement for a supplier to accept a contract –Previously, a supplier needed to formally accept a contract on the platform before a contracting authority user could continue with the next task in the tender process. Following a recent software update on the platform, the contracting authority user can now bypass this requirement. The contracting

authority can now register the supplier’s acceptance on their behalf, thus allowing the continuation of the procurement process

• A dedicated button has been added to the contracting authority user’s home page to assist users in navigating to the green public procurement (GPP) platform and associated guidance material. This improvement will make it easier to search for GPP criteria, this is key to supporting procurement practices.

Information for suppliers

In 2024, the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) published a range of measures for public bodies to take in order to promote the participation of SMEs in public procurement. These measures include simplifying the process for lower value contracts, and improving transparency in competitions. Earlier this year, the OGP published a suite of information on the topic of innovation procurement. Involving SMEs in public procurement is key to enhancing innovation.

The SME sector plays a fundamental role in contributing to economic growth and employment in Ireland. The public sector is a particularly important market for small businesses so improving public procurement practices by removing obstacles and boosting the involvement of SMEs has been a key priority for the OGP.

To support users on the supplier side, the platform now redirects logged in suppliers to the ‘My list of CFTS’ page as their new default home page. From here, suppliers can more easily access the procurements they are involved in directly and make use of new functionality that gives them a visual overview of any messages received. This ensures that they never miss out on a notification relating to their procurements

Further improvements to eTenders which benefit suppliers include:

• Increases to the size of a tender response – The maximum size of a tender response has been increased to 2GB from the previous level of 500MB.

• Improvements to the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) business alerting functionality

has been developed to ensure that suppliers are given as many opportunities to tender as possible.

• A supplier will now receive a business alert to their nominated email address if a contracting authority publishes a tender with a main CPV code that matches with their selected CPV sub-codes. This functionality is configurable in your EO profile on eTenders procurement opportunity.

• Enhancement to the layout of these business alert notifications – As part of the CPV alerting enhancement, the layout to the email alerts that get sent to suppliers has been amended to provide more preview information, allowing the supplier to determine if the published opportunity is suitable for them to make a bid.

What next for eTenders?

The OGP is committed to improving user experience across all of our platforms. Many of the updates that have been made are as a result of listening to feedback from those who interact with eTenders regularly, such as suppliers, contracting authorities, and other key stakeholders. Users can expect ongoing changes in relation to EU eForms standards. These include the implementation of dedicated forms for premarket consultations, along with condensed contract notice and contract award notice forms.

Further updates are planned including a change to the login pages on the platform. Soon, the platform will include case studies highlighting how SMEs have successfully tendered for government contracts.

Office of Government Procurement

eTenders is managed by the Office of Government Procurement (OGP). The OGP is the national authority for public procurement in Ireland and is responsible for driving the public procurement reform programme. The OGP is part of the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform.

E: OpEx@ogp.gov.ie W: www.ogp.gov.ie

Fresh Thinking

A new national body funds Ireland’s

research and innovation

Amid the amalgamation of the functions and activities of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and the Irish Research Council (IRC), the Government has established a new national body dedicated to funding research and innovation in the State.

The signage of the Government’s Research and Innovation Act into law in June 2024, established the new agency, Taighde Éireann (Research Ireland), which will fund research and innovation in Ireland’s arts, engineering, humanities, mathematics, science, social sciences and technology sectors.

Former Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Patrick O’Donovan TD, says the establishment of Taighde Éireann “will enhance our capacity to address the issues Irish society is facing, in particular climate change and the digital transition”.

The creation of new national body has been hailed as the “keystone” by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, of the Government’s Impact 2030: Ireland’s Research and Innovation Strategy, which according to the Department will put research and

innovation “at the heart of addressing Ireland’s social, economic and environmental challenges”.

O’Donovan states: “The establishment of this new agency is a real opportunity to develop an enhanced new approach, fully integrating all aspects of the research and innovation ecosystem.”

The Research and Innovation Act also instituted amendments to the Higher Education Authority Act 2022 which provided for the transfer of certain members of staff and records, assets and liabilities relating tÚdarás um Ard-Oideachas to Taighde Éireann.

Reception to the Act

Responses to the Government’s Research and Innovation Act have ranged from positive, to several organisations and sectorial experts arguing that the Government’s establishment of Taighde Éireann

Fresh Thinking

showcases nothing but an “unmitigated lack of ambition”, according to the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT), but also stated nothing in the legislation can be “deemed distasteful to IFUT”.

In 2023, the IFUT participated in a prelegislative scrutiny of the research and innovation bill 2023 (as it was titled at the time), meeting with the joint committee of Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.

The IFUT’s statement articulated the need for “evidence based research in the advent of Trumpian politics, Brexit and mass campaigns of disinformation”. Both the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and the IFUT submissions to the joint committee focused on the opportunities contained within the legislation.

In a joint statement, the ICTU and IFUT said: “We very much welcomed what was being described by those in favour of adopting legislation of this nature as being the granting or achieving of ‘parity of esteem’ between research on STEM matter, arts and humanities and social science, but we stress that the legislation needs to be very clear in this point.”

However, the launch of Taighde Éireann has gotten off to a turbulent start. The agency is launching with an interim CEO after the inaugural CEO-designate, Philip Nolan, was replaced in light of recent bullying allegations.

Underfunded

The Research and Innovation Act 2024 aims to:

• Promote the attainment and maintenance of excellence in the standard and quality of research and innovation.

• Support the undertaking of research and innovation in all fields of activity and disciplines by researchers with different levels of knowledge, experience and specialist skills in such fields or disciplines.

• Promote and support the contribution made by research and innovation to economic, social, cultural and environmental development and sustainability in the State.

However, according to the IFUT, supporting the need for increased research funding in Ireland is imperative to catch up

with the EU average research expenditure of 2.32 per cent, with the State’s current spend at 1.23 per cent of GDP.

Although Ireland has the second highest GDP per capita in the EU, Eurostat figures show the State’s 2022 Budget allocation to research and development was just 0.21 per cent, the second lowest in the EU.

Moreover, figures showcase that the State has an overreliance on the private sector plugging the gap, with private contractors accounting for 80 per cent of all expenditure on research and development in 2021, which is 14 per cent more than the EU average (66 per cent).

Part of Research Ireland’s remit is to work with two of Ireland’s economic development agencies on research to help industry. Deirdre Lillis, assistant secretary at the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science states the agency “will see how to best balance applied and basic research funding as it reviews SFI and IRC’s portfolios”.

The European Commission has blamed low investment in research and development for continent’s economic stagnation, and for decades has urged member states to increase spending to boost competitiveness.

Furthermore, Impact 2030 wants to increase the investment in research by companies and SMEs. Irish SMEs were successful during Horizon 2020, netting over €300 million from nearly 5,000 applications.

However, delivering on this Impact 2030 objective will require more money from the national coffer, and the question of funding looms large over the new agency. Ireland’s researchers have long complained about underinvestment. A recent survey by the Irish Universities Association (IUA) found that over half of its members’ equipment and research infrastructures are over a decade old.

“It is really dire in terms of the investment levels, particularly in research infrastructure,” says Laura Keating, director of research and innovation at IUA. “The Research and Innovation Act creating Research Ireland’s wider scope means new funding is critical as many more sections will be in competition. The intention of the bill, was that nobody would lose out, but the problem is the pot did not get bigger.”

Ireland joins the global conversation: The inaugural IGF Ireland

On Thursday 22 May 2025, Ireland will host its inaugural Internet Governance Forum at DogPatch Labs in Dublin. This landmark event is being hosted by .ie, and coordinated through a multistakeholder organising team from a wide range of sectors and stakeholders that are passionate about internet governance.

What is the IGF?

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF), formally established by the United Nations in 2006, is a global initiative to promote open policy discussions that shape the future of the internet. The IGF thrives on collaboration, and it creates a space where governments, businesses, civil society, and the technical community can share ideas and discourse on internet governance.

It is deeply committed to the safe, secure, accountable and constructive use of digital technology and to defending human rights in the digital world. It works with a wide range of groups including national ministries of defence to cybersecurity organisations, humanitarian aid organisations, the World Economic Forum, the Council of Europe, the US Department of Commerce, the OECD and the World Intellectual Property Organisation and many

others. It is global in nature, with participants from Europe, the Middle East, China and Africa. With topics such as data privacy and artificial intelligence to digital inclusion, sustainability, and cybersecurity, the IGF covers a wide spectrum of topics that affect everyone. By encouraging input from diverse perspectives, it fosters discussions that are open, inclusive, and multi-stakeholder.

The IGF is global in scope, but many internetrelated issues differ from one country to another. National and Regional IGFs provide a platform for local stakeholders to explore these increasingly complex challenges, and have their views contribute to the larger global dialogue.

IGF Ireland: Coming soon

Besides the Global IGF, many nations or regions host their own local IGF events to bring together the local internet community and

discuss local internet policy issues. Ireland is joining the global conversation and hosting its very own inaugural IGF event. This has never been done before, even though Ireland has a vital and significant role to play in internet governance.

Events like the IGF Ireland also do more than spark conversation; they build connections and drive solutions. By bringing together stakeholders from government, industry, academia, and civil society, the forum could help shape Ireland’s digital future. It is also an opportunity for Ireland to contribute its insights and experiences to the global stage. Hosting the IGF Ireland presents a chance to position Ireland as a leader in navigating the complexities of internet governance, and to have open and innovative discussions on internet policy issues facing Ireland.

Why host IGF Ireland?

Ireland is no stranger to the transformative power of technology. Over the past two decades, it has established itself as a hub for global tech companies while fostering a thriving local tech ecosystem. But with opportunity comes responsibility. As the internet shapes more of our daily lives, Ireland must grapple with questions about digital ethics, security, access, and governance.

The decision to launch IGF Ireland reflects a growing recognition of the need for localised conversations about these global challenges. While the IGF’s annual global meeting addresses issues at a macro level, national and regional IGFs focus on specific contexts. Ireland’s forum will create a platform to discuss its unique priorities and contribute to global efforts.

Who is involved?

The IGF Ireland is being coordinated this year by .ie, the trusted national registry for over 330,000 .ie domain names. The multi-stakeholder organising team includes representatives from government, academia, civil society, the private sector, and the technical community. There are representatives that specialise in areas ranging from data protection and online safety, to cyber security.

The keynote speaker for the event is confirmed to be Johnny Ryan, the Director of Enforce from the Irish Council of Civil Liberties. Ryan will be talking about Ireland’s future in digital

and internet governance. A wide range of panellists are also set to appear from areas including tech, academia, civil society, and government.

The agenda

The full agenda can be found at www.igf-ireland.ie and was created with the input from the Organising Team and from input from a public consultation.

Panels will cover important topics including:

• Global processes affecting internet governance

• Creating ethical, forward-thinking policies

• The impacts of geo-politics on internet governance

• A vision for a sustainable internet; and,

• How to achieve ethical AI governance.

Save the date!

As the countdown begins to IGF Ireland, there is a palpable sense of anticipation. This is more than just an event; it is a step forward in how Ireland engages with the most pressing digital issues of our time. IGF Ireland will take

place on Thursday 22 May 2025 at DogPatch Labs, Dublin.

The success of a national IGF depends on the community’s participation. This means involving representatives from across society, including policymakers, business leaders, academic researchers, community organisations, and the general public. The IGF Ireland offers an opportunity for these groups to connect, share experiences, and contribute to shaping the country’s digital future.

Whether you’re a policymaker, a business leader, a researcher, or simply someone passionate about the internet, this is your opportunity to take part in the discussion! Keep an eye on www.igf-ireland.ie for updates and details on how to get involved.

Fresh Thinking

National AI strategy refreshed following EU AI Act passage

The 2024 refresh of Ireland’s National AI Strategy emphasises adapting regulatory frameworks to address rapid advancements in AI technology while aligning with the European Union’s AI Act.

One of the primary objectives of Ireland’s updated AI strategy is fostering public trust through transparency and ethical use. The strategy highlights measures such as rolling out AI standards and certifications, guided by the EU AI Act, which underlines the importance of member states adopting a risk-based approach to AI regulation.

The refresh aims to balance the innovation opportunities of AI with safeguarding fundamental rights, ensuring that businesses and public entities operate within ethical and safe frameworks.

Strengthening AI governance

The Government aims to strengthen its AI governance through the establishment of structures like the AI Advisory Council. This body provides

independent advice, aimed at helping the government navigate emerging challenges in AI adoption. It also advocates for transparency and accountability in public service AI deployments.

Notably, responsibility for ethical AI use is placed on system users, not developers, underscoring the importance of informed adoption practices by public and private entities.

Implementing the EU AI Act

The focal point of the refresh is to fully incorporate the EU AI Act, which was formally passed after the Government’s AI strategy, AI: Here for Good

By categorising AI applications based on risk –ranging from minimal to high – this aims to minimises obligations for low-risk systems like administrative

tools while imposing stringent requirements on high-risk uses, such as AI for recruitment or credit assessments.

Under the new regulations, the Government aims to lead in implementing regulations under the AI Act while introducing regulatory sandboxes to enable safe, innovative experimentation within controlled environments.

Speaking to eolas Magazine in February 2024, following passage of the AI Act, Government Chief Information Officer, Barry Lowry, said that he was “very pleased to note the progress made with the EU AI Act”.

“I think it has evolved well to now provide a very good balance between meaningful AI use and risk and privacy management. I look forward to its enactment,” Lowry said.

As the EU AI Act was being drafted, Lowry had warned in a previous interview with eolas Magazine (issue 60) that “there is a risk that misunderstood attempts to regulate AI are viewing AI as an entity, but it is not about AI as an entity, it is about how you use it”.

Lowry had further warned of the potential risks of introducing legislation “without a real understanding of what it is that is being regulated” and “without talking about shared risk”.

Regulation challenges

Implementing a universal framework for such a diverse technology poses challenges. AI’s dynamic nature makes it difficult to craft regulations that are both specific and adaptable.

For example, concerns over facial recognition technology highlight tensions between technological potential and privacy rights. These discussions underscore the delicate balance between the commitment to addressing nuanced ethical concerns while fostering AI adoption.

Fresh Thinking

To support businesses, especially SMEs, the Government offers tools like the Grow Digital Portal and training programmes through CeADAR and other European Digital Innovation Hubs. These initiatives aim to provide access to resources like digital maturity assessments and AI integration workshops. Furthermore, the Government is encouraging collaboration across public and private sectors to maximise “the economic and societal benefits of AI”.

In the public sector, AI’s integration is designed to enhance service delivery while maintaining ethical safeguards. Initiatives like curated chatbots for government websites and AI-assisted healthcare diagnostics demonstrate potential gains in efficiency and accessibility.

The strategy ensures ethical alignment by requiring senior management to oversee and approve AI implementations, emphasising user accountability.

Overall, the aim of these new AI regulations is to drive innovation within regulated environments by leveraging resources like regulatory sandboxes, while building public trust through transparent and ethical AI use.

Through this, it is hoped that the refresh to the national AI strategy will help to foster talent and skills in AI through targeted educational initiatives, ensuring workforce readiness.

Speaking shortly prior to the publication of the refresh in November 2024, Minister of State Dara Calleary TD told eolas Magazine: “The refresh builds on the solid foundations in place, continuing to emphasise the importance of trustworthy, person-centred AI development and use, while positioning Ireland as a leader in seizing AI’s economic and societal benefits. To achieve these goals, the full engagement and participation of all parts of the public sector is absolutely crucial.”

“I think it has evolved well to now provide a very good balance between meaningful AI use and risk and privacy management.”

Government CIO Barry Lowry on the EU AI Act

Fresh Thinking

Horizon outlines Europe’s priorities in research and innovation

The European Commission has outlined three main strategic orientations in the European Union’s (EU) largest research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2025-2027, to “tackle key global challenges”.

Most notably, one of the plan’s key strategic orientations is supporting ‘the digital transition’, with the hope that supplementing research to support this transition will create a “more resilient, competitive, democratic and inclusive Europe”.

Since its creation in 2021, Horizon Europe has been “generating excellence through breakthrough knowledge and investment in solutions to long-term global challenges”, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, the digital transformation, health threats and an ageing population.

The Horizon Europe strategic plan serves as an interface between the EU’s main policy priorities and the Horizon Europe research activities. It strives to ensure the best value and impact for member states and associated countries investment in research and innovation.

The strategy supports many aspects including:

• Continuity and reliability for the research and innovation communities: the plan sets research and innovation priorities beyond the custom two-year period of Horizon Europe work programmes.

• Communication: The plan enables member states, associated countries, stakeholders and the public to engage with the European Commission on future research priorities in a transparent way.

• Synergies with national research and innovation activities: The plan allows member states and associated countries to seek a better alignment of their national and regional research and innovation strategies and activities with EU priorities, by improving coordination and increasing synergies between the national and EU funding.

• Synergies with other EU funding instruments: The plan highlights further opportunities for synergies with other EU funding programmes.

Strategic orientations and the pillars

The three key strategic orientations identified in by Horizon Europe for the 2025-2027 plan are:

• The green transition: Horizon Europe research and innovation activities must support Europe to become the world’s first climateneutral continent by 2050 and to tackle biodiversity loss and pollution. At least 35 per cent of Horizon Europe’s resources are committed to be spent on climate action and 10 per cent for 2025-2027 on biodiversity action.

• The digital transition: Research to support the digital transition is key to Europe’s competitiveness and open strategic autonomy, and to setting

human-centred standards. It is also key to achieving the green transition. In 2021-2027, Horizon agreed to invest at least €13 billion from Horizon Europe in core digital technologies.

• A more resilient, competitive, inclusive, and democratic Europe: Europe’s social rights, democratic values, and principles “need a strong foundation so they can be promoted globally”. Horizon Europe research was established to provide this foundation. This includes research on civil security, on a fair and environmentally friendly economic model, on health and wellbeing, and on democratic participation.

These key strategic orientations have been developed to “encapsulate the main EU policy priorities” which will guarantee “transformed open strategic autonomy… securing Europe’s leading role in developing and deploying critical technologies”.

The plan is also informed by the three pillars of Horizon Europe, which together, with the horizontal part on “widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area (ERA)”, designed to have a “synergetic impact”.

The three pillars are:

Pillar I: Excellent science – This pillar supports frontier research and breakthrough scientific ideas (European Research Council), teams up the best researchers from Europe and beyond and equips them with skills and worldclass research infrastructures.

Pillar II: Global challenges and European industrial competitiveness –

The strategic plan focuses primarily on Pillar II of Horizon Europe. The second pillar is made up of six clusters of research an innovation activities, to maximise integration and complementarities across the respective thematic areas while securing high and sustainable levels of impact for the EU in relation to resources that are expended.

Pillar III: Innovative Europe – Pillar III focuses on improving the conditions for innovators to flourish at all levels of governance, supports the development of innovations to address EU strategic challenges, such as the green and digital transition, and strengthens EU technological sovereignty, particularly in

Fresh Thinking

deep tech and breakthrough innovation.

The strong bridges between pillars and, where relevant, within pillars, call for a broader perspective in the strategic plan, to identify and leverage the reciprocal links, but aforementioned, the strategic plan focuses predominantly on Pillar II and its various ‘clusters’.

Cluster one – Health

The strategy plan states: “Cluster one will continue to improve the understanding of the impacts of climate change and environmental stresses on people’s health and wellbeing and support the development of tools and measurers to protect people from these impacts and to combat global health challenges.”

Cluster one specifies that the Horizon Europe will continue work to develop and stimulate the uptake of new technologies and digital solutions to improve healthcare and health systems. This includes using technology to help people better understand and use health information, promote healthier lifestyles, improve pandemic/epidemic preparedness, prevent diseases, provide better diagnoses and more personalised treatments and care solutions.

Cluster two – Culture, creativity and inclusive society

This cluster aims to make Europe “more resilient, competitive, inclusive and democratic”. The cluster aspires to have research and innovation investment continue to strengthen democracy, increase democratic participation and protect fundamental rights and the rule of law, as well as promote cultural and creative industries and linguistic diversity, “paying particular attention to regional specificities and cultural diversity, as this enriches society as a whole”.

Cluster three – Civil security for society

Cluster three aims to strengthen societal preparedness and resilience to disasters and threats, whether accidental or intentional. It also aims to guarantee the “security of digital networks and of the population in the online world”. Therefore, cluster three promises to invest in cybersecurity research and

investment to strengthen the EU’s resilience, protect its infrastructure, and improve its ability to cope with cyberattacks and incidents.

Cluster four – Digital, industry and space

Cluster four aims to both strengthen Europe’s technological sovereignty and competitiveness; and support the transformation of its industries towards net zero emissions. The strategy plan states: “Cluster four will continue fostering leadership in digital and key enabling technologies, including digital and AI, while ensuring that they are aligned with European principles, values and rights.”

Cluster 5 – Climate, energy and mobility

Cluster five capitalises on the digital transformation to accelerate climate neutrality by 2050. This involves improving climate models, and energy and mobility services. The plan explains: “Cluster five empowers people and organisations through better information and by involving them in co-creating and shaping solutions”, to ensure energy and transport systems become fair, safe and sustainable.

Cluster six – Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment

Cluster six drives forward the green transition, the first key strategic orientation for Horizon Europe. By supporting the European Green Deal, it “makes Europe more resilient, competitive, inclusive and democratic”. It also aims to promote a circular economy by increasing resource efficiency from design to disposal.

The new Horizon Europe Strategic Plan notes to achieve the EU’s ambitions reflected in the new orientations, it is also essential to safeguard Europe’s open strategic autonomy and to secure Europe’s leading role in developing and deploying critical and emerging technologies. The six clusters outlined in Pillar II by Horizon Europe as well as all activities under Pillar I and Pillar III, have been designed to support each of the key strategic orientations.

Collaboration is making a great CMS for councils even better

Irish councils have realised that they can do more with less by working together, and are raising the bar for their online digital experiences without blowing their budgets, writes Stella Power, Managing Director, Annertech.

LocalGov Drupal (LGD) is a partnership of councils that work together to design, develop and share Drupal code to help one another serve their citizens more efficiently. They do this by creating bespoke websites that are set up to give their users exactly what they are looking for – whether it is finding information, applying for a service or paying a fine.

LGD is a publicly owned open-source distribution that is free to use – a CMS built by councils, for councils. By combining learnings and developing solutions to common problems and feature requirements, the LGD ecosystem is constantly evolving to improve service outcomes.

The LGD project aligns with the Build to Share initiative, which forms part of the Irish Government’s IT strategy. The initiative’s goal is for the public sector to share code in order to save valuable resources like time and money. With LGD, the features added by one council are available for other councils to use.

LGD started in the UK, but it was brought to Ireland by Annertech, and first taken up by Tipperary County Council. There were features that were pertinent to the Irish market that had not yet been developed. These include obvious must-haves like Irish translations but also other features such as an integration with the Irish Service Catalogue and pulling in Weekly Planning Notices.

The LocalGov Drupal CMS has been used for many council websites, including Galway City Council and Tipperary, Carlow and Laois County Councils.

Giving back

In the spirit of giving back to the project, Tipperary County Council funded an LGD extension that imports the services that a council offers from the Irish Service Catalogue. It gives councils a good launching point for their content because not only does it list and import all the services, but it also creates a page for each of them and structures the content throughout the site.

The service pages are created in both English and Irish, and the pages just need to be edited or updated, adding to a quick website turnaround.

In addition to the Irish Service Catalogue feature, Tipperary County also funded the LocalGov Multilingual feature, which adds the Irish translations.

Similarly, Carlow County Council funded the build for the Weekly Planning Notices extension. It is a statutory requirement that all Irish councils are required to publish information about the planning applications granted and declined each week. This extension provides a way for Irish councils to upload and publish the notices. In addition, it allows them to be posted in Irish, boosting the crucial multilingual functionality of LGD sites.

Carlow County Council also funded councillor listings and council minutes/agendas extensions, which allow users to search for councillors, and minutes/agendas by municipal district or meeting year.

“We have had positive feedback from the people who use our website and the number of hits on our website has dramatically increased,” says Martina Loughnane from Carlow County Council.

“We were delighted to be able to give back the Weekly Planning Notices module to the LGD community and hope that the other local authorities who follow us into the fold will get good use out of it.”

And they have – both Laois County Council and Galway City Council, which recently launched their new LGD websites, used the features contributed by Tipperary and Carlow county councils.

Saving time and money

There are usually budgetary challenges in building a website from scratch or migrating from an existing website, and the public sector is under pressure to spend its budget wisely.

Because the code already exists the LGD project can see councils saving up to 80 per cent on their digital projects. And because LGD is an open-source

CMS, there are no licence fees involved and councils aren’t locked into expensive contracts or proprietary software.

“We believe that Local Authorities should be working collaboratively instead of in parallel spending €100,000 to €250,000 on singular websites, potentially being out of date in a few months,” says Ruth Maher from Tipperary County Council.

By using a platform that other councils have already built to meet business objectives, councils save on time and the resource-intensive tasks of redesigning and rebuilding platforms.

“LGD freed up our time and budget to allow us to focus on added-value services as opposed to reinventing the website code-base from scratch,” adds Maher.

Tipperarycoco.ie was completed – from start to finish – in just four months! Carlow.ie was completed in 11 – not bad for a council website with lots of content that needed to be rewritten.

Levelling the playing field

Councils are varied – some have massive resources for their digital strategy while others have one or two content managers. LGD offers councils a way of levelling the playing field –councils who are new to the platform gain access to knowledge and practices from other councils that have already solved many common problems.

Each council who uses LGD is contributing towards the community. As the platform grows, their input helps to shape, build and improve the partnership for all councils involved. As other Irish councils encounter features that they’d like, they can pool their resources to have them developed.

And with 53 councils having joined the LGD community that means a lot of people are enjoying its benefits.

About Annertech

Annertech is Ireland’s leading opensource digital agency and has become the “go to“ experts for Drupal and LocalGov Drupal. Founded in 2008, Annertech works with many clients in both the private and public sectors.

In 2021 Annertech UK opened to service a growing number of clients and staff members in the UK. Annertech’s mission is to help companies to embrace opensource technology to deliver ambitious digital experiences for their customers.

Their work has won some of Ireland’s most prestigious digital awards, including multiple Spider Awards (including the coveted Grand Prix award), National Digital Awards and Digital Media Awards.

T: 01 524 0312

E: hello@annertech.com

W: www.annertech.com/localgovdrupal

Stella Power, Managing Director, Annertech.

Talent and innovation: Comparing Ireland with the rest of the EU

Launched by Simon Harris TD in 2024 when he was Minister for Further and Higher Education, Global Citizens 2030, Ireland’s talent and innovation strategy, aims to “embed excellence in talent and innovation into Ireland’s global footprint”, although it falls short on specific detail.

The Global Citizens 2030 strategy aims to establish the State as a global leader in education, research, and innovation, with a focus on talent attraction, international collaboration, and addressing global challenges like climate change and digital transformation.

The strategy is structured around six pillars:

Talent and innovation at the heart of Ireland’s global footprint: Ireland’s integration of education into its diplomatic strategy through Team Ireland mirrors France’s Campus France initiative, which effectively combines education with diplomacy. However, stronger alumni networks like Germany’s could further support this effort.

A first choice destination for international learners, researchers, and innovators: The International Education Mark (IEM) is analogous to the Dutch NVAO accreditation, which has received acclaim as a ‘step forward’. However, housing shortages and cost-of-living challenges pose risks. Emulating Finland’s municipal-university partnerships for student accommodation could provide a solution.

Global citizens in multi-national, multi-cultural, and diverse workforces: This pillar highlights international mobility and inclusivity. Norway’s Internationalisation at Home initiative offers a model for improving global competencies for students unable to travel, which could be an exemplar model for Ireland in connecting students located in rural parts of the country.

Enhanced influence in European education and research: Ireland’s active participation in Erasmus+ and the European Universities Initiative aligns with EU priorities. To strengthen its impact, Ireland could emulate Sweden’s leadership in sustainability-focused research within Horizon Europe.

A new level of north-south and east-west collaboration: This measure is focused on collaboration on the island of Ireland, and with Britain on university partnerships. However, there are significantly more Irish students studying in the UK than British students studying in Ireland, and students from the North study in Britain in much higher number than they do in the Republic.

Thought leadership in international education and research policy: The ambition to lead as a small advanced economy parallels Denmark’s focus on sustainable energy research, and is relatively more details than other proposals. Ireland’s success will depend on prioritising sectors where it holds existing strengths, such as med-tech and agri-food innovation.

The strategy, while it outlines high levels of ambition for the expansion of innovation in the State’s labour market, is short on specifics. When comparing with measures in other EU member states, such as Finland’s infrastructure planning, Norway’s inclusivity measures, and Sweden’s focus on sustainability, it is clear that while Ireland is respected as a digital leader in the EU, that the Government must focus on actionable policies to realise its goals under the Global Citizens 2030 strategy.

Fresh Thinking

eolas AI Forum 2024

The eolas AI Forum 2024, sponsored by BearingPoint Ireland, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP with AMD, took place on Thursday 24th October at the Gibson Hotel, Dublin. Over 250 delegates attended the event, learning about the latest developments in AI. The Forum examined how AI can make an impact on organisations and examined how we can deliver the principles of AI - Here for Good: AI that is trustworthy, people-centred and ethical.

Delegates in attendance heard from speakers, both visiting and local, from organisations including the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment; Insight, UCD; The Alan Turing Institute; European Commission; University of Manchester and National Standards Authority of Ireland.

Donnacha O’Driscoll, INSIGHT, UCD; Stephen Redmond, BearingPoint Ireland; Eamonn Cahill, Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment; Claudia Carr, BearingPoint Ireland and Ciarán Galway, eolas Magazine.

Abeba Birhane, Mozilla, Trinity College Dublin and AI Advisory Council addresses delegates.

Karen Gibson, Department of Rural & Community Development and Brendan Brady, Department of Health.

Sarah Jane Darmody, Department of Education and Julieann Culleton, MyPay Laois County Council.

Carita O’Leary, Kevin Cahill and Conor Kilduff, HPE Ireland.

Fresh Thinking

Glen Wearen, HEAnet; Paula Lyons, Department of Social Protection and Thomas Fuery, Health & Safety Authority.

Palloma Maximiano and Ranish Shrestha, Health Products Regulatory Authority.

Matt Armstrong Barnes, HPE addresses delegates.

Claudia Carr, BearingPoint Ireland; David Wall, Tallaght University Hospital; Carmel O’Hare, Monaghan County Council; John Lonsdale, CeADAR; Donal Harford, AMD; Col. Damian Griffin, Irish Defence Forces and Colin Flaherty, Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery & Reform.

Delegates visit the HP/AMD exhibition stand.

Melanie Campbell, Dennis Muldoon and Elaine Coleman, Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.

AI Forum delegates 2024.

Thea Sumergido, Prospectus and Niall O'Grady, The Shannon Airport Group.

eolas Digital Government

CONFERENCE 2025

Thursday 13 February • Croke Park, Dublin

Education report

Education 4.0: AI and the future of education

Mairéad Pratschke, Professor and SALC Chair in Digital Education at the University of Manchester, examines the transformative potential of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) in educational settings, and outlines the four key phases of AI adoption.

As AI becomes an essential tool in industry, Pratschke argues for GAI literacy within educational institutions to ensure that both educators and students are adequately prepared for the future of work.

Pratschke divides the GAI literacy journey into distinct stages of user maturity, providing a roadmap for professional development and applications of GAI. These stages are not linear but overlapping and will not apply in all cases but they provide examples of GAI use in education.

The first stage of adoption, where GAI is primarily used to generate content, has already begun. AI tools are being employed to generate summaries of texts and to interact with content; and to assist with administrative tasks.

AI can be used as an assistive technology, to enhance accessibility, help students with learning challenges and disabilities, such as

speech-to-text transcription and assisting students with visual impairments. Importantly, AI can promote inclusivity, providing support for neurodivergent students and those with different learning needs, helping them access and engage with content in more accessible ways.

In the second stage, as users become more competent, they collaborate actively with the technology, creating their own AI tools and defining how they behave. Pratschke highlights the potential for such tools for active learning, where AI takes on the role of creative collaborator and working alongside students and educators in the learning process. Pratschke has conceptualised this design approach as ‘generativism’, which refers to the collaboration between humans and GAI, as well as to generative learning theory. For example, GAI chatbots can now be used to assist students in research, take on the role of tutor, or as a partner in ideation.

The third stage in AI use involves the development of what Pratschke describes as “intelligent communities,” where humans and AI systems work together in teams or communities of humans and AI experts. In education, this could mean that AI takes on roles such as a peer, mentor, or guide, helping learners navigate complex subject matter, or as a co-researcher or co-instructor that supports and works alongside academics. Pratschke emphasises that GAI tools can take on multiple roles within the classroom, ranging from tutor to facilitator to coinstructor. For instance, AIs can simulate real-world scenarios, offering students opportunities to practice difficult conversations, such as interviews or negotiations.

This capability, she says, is particularly beneficial for skill-based training, such as language learning, public speaking, or conflict resolution. By using GAI tools in varied roles, educational institutions can leverage its capabilities to offer richer, more varied learning experiences that would be difficult to achieve with traditional methods alone.

AI as a collaborative learning partner

In the education sector, the transition from using AI to simply generate content to using it as a learning partner is becoming increasingly important, as the educator moves from being a passive consumer of GAI output to an active collaborator and designer of the tool itself. Pratschke notes that early experiments have shown that when AI is used as a co-instructor in classrooms, it can – when properly designed – enhance student engagement and improve learning outcomes. Similarly, the use of GAI tools for student support have also been shown to increase student satisfaction, by providing 24hour support and answering questions.

AI has the potential to facilitate a more personalised approach to learning that tailors educational content to a student’s pace and needs. Using data analytics, AI can identify gaps in knowledge and provide adaptive content targeted to address these gaps, which allows for a level of 1:1 help would be difficult for an instructor in a traditional classroom setup to achieve.

This approach aligns with the growing emphasis on lifelong learning, as it allows learners to progress at their own speed, ensuring that education is not just one-sizefits-all but rather responsive to individual needs.

Preparing educators for AI in the classroom

On ensuring AI literacy among educators, Pratschke states that, as AI technologies continue to evolve, the workforce must develop the skills necessary to interact effectively with AI systems. She argues that AI literacy should be a core component of teacher training, and

that educators must not only learn how to use AI tools but also understand how AI models work and how to teach students to collaborate with AI. This includes teaching students how to use AI ethically, how to interact with AI in productive ways, and how to critically evaluate AI-generated content.

Some predict that the role of the teacher will change as AI becomes more prevalent in the classroom. Teachers will no longer be the sole source of knowledge, but rather facilitators of learning, helping students navigate the vast resources available through AI and guiding them in using AI responsibly and creatively. The is the model of education that Pratschke describes as the “new hybrid”.

Concluding, Pratschke reiterates that AI presents both challenges and opportunities for the Irish education sector. While AI has the potential to support student learning, she says that it also requires careful integration into educational practices.

Pratschke urges policymakers, educators, and industry leaders to collaborate in preparing the next generation of learners for a future where AI is a central part of everyday life. By fostering AI literacy, investing in professional development for educators, and with the careful design of tools for use in intelligent communities, she says that Ireland can lead the way in ensuring that AI serves as a tool for empowerment of educators, rather than the automation of education.

Supporting students all the way

Philip Connolly, Director of Services with Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) tells eolas Magazine how SUSI is evolving through a period of sustainability and future proofing and outlines their five-year strategic plan which places the student at its core.

SUSI is Ireland’s national awarding authority for further and higher education grants. A business unit of City of Dublin ETB, SUSI administers student funding in line with legislation set out by the Department for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) in the Student Support Act 2011 and annual Student Grant Schemes and Student Support Regulations.

Established in 2012 to replace 66 regional awarding authorities, SUSI created for the first time a single, centralised awarding authority for student funding in Ireland. SUSI’s mission is to empower students to transform their lives through tertiary education and between 2012 and 2024, SUSI processed over 1.26 million applications, awarded over 960,000 grants to students and paid almost €3.8 billion in funding.

In recent years, as well as implementing the most legislative changes in over a decade, SUSI’s remit expanded beyond the Student Grant Scheme. In 2024 the Student Part-Time Fee Scheme for Specified Undergraduate Courses was launched providing, for the first time, funding for students

studying part-time. SUSI administers the PLC Bursary for Displaced Persons Ukraine Scheme and the International Protection Student Scheme.

In addition, SUSI provides assistance to the higher education institutions in delivering the 1916 Bursary and processes applications for funding for tertiary education programmes. SUSI is also the paying authority for DFHERIS scholarships and bursaries including the All-Ireland Scholarship.

“We are committed to delivering continuous service improvements to our students,” says Connolly.

“Over the last 12 years, we have enhanced our service by developing an online application portal, creating a centralised system for the swift and consistent assessment of grant applications, launching new and responsive communications channels and implementing a scalable workflow model that reflects the seasonal nature of the application process.”

He continues: “We are now moving to a period of sustainability and future proofing. We aspire to be a leading public service which places the customer at the centre of everything we do through building

an agile organisation and harnessing cuttingedge digital systems. To support this and falling under the wider City of Dublin ETB strategic plan, we have developed a five-year strategic plan specific to the remit of SUSI as a grant awarding authority.”

Built upon the foundation of being a data driven organisation, SUSI’s strategy is anchored in three pillars. “Each pillar is underpinned by a set of strategic goals which form the bridge between the pillars and a set of practical initiatives that result in the organisation’s annual business plan,” adds Connolly.

Pillar 1 | Student and customer focused

SUSI aims to always respond to student and customer needs.

• Goal 1 – Further develop SUSI as a student and customer centred organisation: This goal will be achieved by embedding a customer service mindset within the organisation; considering the customer in everything SUSI does and taking the organisation from customer service to customer experience.

• Goal 2 – Understand our customer: This goal will be realised by engaging with customers to understand their needs and track their sentiment and satisfaction with SUSI services. Mapping customer journeys and identifying barriers to customer engagement will further drive this goal.

• Goal 3 – Create an excellent customer experience: Delivering transparent, proactive two-way communications; using digital channels and solutions; making the application process as easy as possible and creating a consistent experience no matter where the customer meets the organisation will support this goal.

Pillar 2 | A leading digital public service

To further enhance the service, SUSI aims to leverage digital technology to proactively lead the continuing advances required across its processes at a time of change and development.

• Goal 1 – Become a digital by default organisation: While ensuring services are delivered in an equitable, inclusive and sustainable manner, this goal will be achieved by delivering digital processes for all aspects of service provision as well as using digital to improve the experience for those engaging with the service offline when needed.

• Goal 2 – Digital transformation: To be achieved by implementing interoperable and scalable technology based solutions; adopting a set of architecture principles as a set of building blocks that compose of technology, data, security and governance; designing and building systems that are aligned with best practice in security and cyber defence and investing in integrated and scalable digital infrastructure

• Goal 3 – Harness data effectively: This will be accomplished by recognising data as a key strategic asset; safeguarding and growing data sharing partnerships and protecting data.

Pillar 3 | A model public service organisation

SUSI aims to fully engage its staff to ensure an agile and model public service workplace.

• Goal 1 – Design an optimal organisation: This will be achieved by promoting mobility, progression and role clarity.

• Goal 2 – Create a model workplace: This will be achieved through workplace innovation, a focus on diversity, inclusion and accessibility and professional development.

• Goal 3 – Create a vibrant and welldefined culture: This will be achieved by fostering positive workplace relations, identifying organisation values and further building interdepartmental communications.

Progress on the goals and initiatives outlined in the strategy will be reviewed and monitored at scheduled intervals throughout its lifetime.

Connolly concludes: “Our commitment to our students is stronger than ever. Work has already begun across all three strategic pillars and we look forward to building on this further in the years to come.”

Student Support Desk

T: 0818 888 777

E: support@susi.ie

W: www.susi.ie

Primary school curriculum reform to respond to the evolving needs of society

More time will be given to teaching languages, STEM subjects, and wellbeing under the first major revamp of the States’s primary school curriculum in 25 years.

The redeveloped primary curriculum introduces a range of new learning areas and subjects, aimed at giving greater flexibility to schools and teachers to adapt learning to better meet pupil needs.

The National Council of Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) is leading the development of five new curriculum areas, the specifications for which are set to be introduced from September 2025 and implemented on a phased basis. These include:

• language (updated to include modern foreign languages in third class to sixth class);

• science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education;

• wellbeing;

• arts education; and

• social and environmental education (history and geography).

Consultation on the draft primary curriculum specifications closed on 7 June 2024, following the publication of the primary curriculum framework in March 2023. The framework has been developed by the NCCA over a six-year period.

The previous primary curriculum had been in place since 1999 and has been credited with improved attainment levels in reading, maths and science, however, longstanding challenges to modernise how assessment is used to inform learning and teaching, as well as the emergence of greater volumes of research on children‘s learning and development, and the role of technology and the internet, had prompted moves to reform the curriculum.

The Primary Curriculum Framework connects with the Framework for Junior Cycle, aimed at

“supporting continuity of experiences for children from early childhood through primary school and into their post-primary education”.

In November, then-Education Minister Norma Foley TD announced €9 million was to be provided for school resources and materials for the new primary curriculum, specifically aimed at supporting the STEM and Arts curriculum areas.

The Minister said that the investment is part of a longer-term strategy to ensure sustained support for schools: “Over the coming years, we will continue to allocate resources to support our schools in implementing the curriculum. This will be a multi-annual funding initiative, with future allocations depending on budgetary considerations and emerging needs as we roll out the curriculum nationwide.

“We are committed to ensuring that every school, has the tools and resources necessary to deliver high-quality education for all their pupils. By planning for the long term, we can adapt to the evolving needs of schools and ensure continuous improvements in learning and teaching across the country.”

Some elements of the primary curriculum reform have already been initiated. The new primary mathematics curriculum, situated within the STEM curriculum area, was published in September 2023. The Department of Education says that while much of ‘what’ children will learn remains unchanged, greater emphasis is placed on enhancing ‘how’ children learn mathematics best.

“The new curriculum sets out a fresh vision for children’s learning that is characterised by playfulness, creativity, challenge, risk-taking, and opportunities for reasoning and solving real-life problems,” it sates.

Previously, Curaclam Teanga na Bunscoile was introduced for all stages in primary school in 2019. Under the Primary Curriculum Framework, the Curaclam Teanga na Bunscoile will be updated to reflect the introduction of modern foreign languages at primary level, and will be introduced into schools in the 2025/2026 school year.

Speaking before the Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on 5 November 2024, Chief Executive of the NCCA, Arlene Forster described the publication of the primary curriculum framework for primary and special schools as a “significant milestone”.

Describing the framework, she says: “The framework sets out the curriculum areas and the subjects of the curriculum. It introduces and expands on aspects of learning.

“It also gives an increased emphasis to existing areas such as physical education, social, personal and health education and digital learning, and provides for greater agency and flexibility for teachers and children. Importantly, the framework also links with learning experiences provided through Aistear, the early childhood curriculum framework, and connects with learning in the framework for the junior cycle.”

Areas of contention centre around how sexual education will be taught, the amount of time given to religion, and a potential reduction of time allocated to teaching the Irish language.

Addressing concerns that the new primary curriculum will see a reduction in the average time spent on the Irish language, the NCCA says that in English-medium schools the time for Irish language learning will remain unchanged for junior and senior infants, however, for first to sixth class, a reduction of 30 minutes per week is planned. The NCCA says that the change is in response to feedback from teachers for a restoration of flexible time into the curriculum and a desire from children for more time on physical education, and social, personal and health education (SPHE).

Looking after learners’ interests: QQI Statement of Strategy 2025-27

Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI)’s role in education is to promote confidence and trust in the quality and reputation of Ireland’s tertiary education system.

Our work on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) and on qualifications connects further and higher education and English language education, involving public and private/independent providers, so learners can access and experience these as part of a seamless integrated tertiary education system. In 20252027, QQI will address new challenges in areas such as assessment, workintegrated learning; online learning; apprenticeships new and traditional; climate change, and equality, diversity and inclusion.

QQI’s vision is to create a flexible, responsive, and high-quality tertiary education system where learners have confidence that their learning experience is of a high quality and that

their learning and qualifications are valued nationally and internationally. We will continue to look after learners’ interests, focus on quality outcomes for learners and the recognition, at home and abroad, of the learning and qualifications achieved by all who participate in Ireland’s tertiary education system.

Our strategy is underpinned by values of collaboration, trust, integrity, learning and innovation. These values are critical to how we work and to our success. We collaborate with our stakeholders –with learner representatives, institutions and providers, government departments and the funding agencies, professional and regulatory bodies and international peer agencies. We consult and engage widely and meaningfully with our

stakeholders and partners so that we anticipate needs, innovate and deliver excellent service. We place significant value on the responsibility we share with others to maintain the confidence in and continued enhancement of the quality of Ireland’s tertiary education and training. At the same time, we regulate independently, fairly, and robustly.

The strategy for 2025-2027 has elements of continuity, such as creating a more dynamic qualifications system, higher quality and more comprehensive information to learners. The renewed commitment to strengthen and futureproof the NFQ and access, transfer and progression, which will better serve learners across all of education –learners in our schools, further, higher

and English language sectors. The strategy has new elements too, namely that QQI will award the TrustEd Ireland quality mark to higher education and English language education providers who meet the relevant standards. This will ensure that international learners enrolled on higher education and English language education programmes in Ireland, receive highquality education and qualifications that are respected and recognised worldwide.

Launching QQI’s fifth statement of strategy on 21 November 2024 at QQI’s biennial conference ‘Leading and learning in a changing landscape’, Keith Moynes (Assistant Secretary, Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science) described it as “succinct, comprehensive and detailed”, setting out “a clear vision and mission for the future” with “actions that are both ambitious and achievable”.

Future-proof the National Framework of Qualifications

We will further develop our platforms to promote the NFQ as the authoritative source of information on qualityassured qualifications, including microcredentials. We will review and modify the NFQ award types and improve choice through the recognition of listed awarding bodies and the inclusion of academic and professional awards in the framework. We will also develop an authoritative list of English language education and higher education programmes offered to international learners by providers who have achieved the TrustEd Ireland quality mark.

Deliver trusted regulation, guidelines, advice, and services

We will continue to provide authoritative information about the quality of the public tertiary education system through a comprehensive monitoring framework. We will engage with further and higher education providers to develop appropriate models for future institutional quality review, while updating assessment guidelines to reflect changing teaching and learning contexts. We will seek to increase autonomy and flexibility for mature private higher education providers while ensuring oversight of quality and will

devolve more responsibility for programme validation to education and training boards so that they are better able to develop flexible and innovative programmes. We will develop quality assurance guidelines for a single system of apprenticeship, for workintegrated learning and for programmes that span the tertiary education sector. Finally, through the services of NARIC Ireland, we will enable greater understanding of overseas qualifications by providers, employers, and international learners, including displaced persons and refugees.

Share valuable systemwide insights, research and analysis

We will improve our data analytics capacity to create QQI dashboards offering systems-level indicators on quality and qualifications and share guidance and thought-leadership with providers in assessment and artificial intelligence. We will inform providers, policy makers, and state agencies about insights and trends. We will also work to maximise the impact of our research and analysis through effective communications.

Deepen national and international partnerships

Through our relationships with state agencies, providers and other stakeholders, we will inform and influence education and training policy, and through our work with a diversity of learner representative and advocacy bodies, we will help develop mechanisms to effectively engage learners in the quality of their education and training. We will support capacity-

building in the education and training boards by partnering strategically with funding authorities, provider representative bodies and other stakeholders. We will collaborate with provider and learner representative bodies to fully integrate the English language education sector within QQI’s regulatory and quality assurance frameworks.

Create a resilient and agile organisation

We will create a diverse and inclusive workplace, with a culture that values equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), and operates effectively in a technology-enabled hybrid working environment consistent with our climate and sustainability obligations. We will nurture a culture of cross-organisational knowledge-sharing, communication and project management to enhance organisational agility and resilience. We will improve our services through usercentred design of information and communications technologies, business processes and platforms. We will also explore the potential offered by artificial intelligence, in line with the guidance for its use in the Irish public service.

Our new strategy is ambitious, yet achievable. It will enable QQI, through close collaboration and coordinated action with partners and stakeholders, to enhance the Irish tertiary education and training system in ways that empower it to anticipate the needs, innovate the solutions, and deliver the transformations we need to make the future a better one for us all.

W: www.qqi.ie

OECD’s assessment of education in Ireland

While Irish students often outperform those from other parts of the world in literacy, mathematics, and science, the State continues to grapple with deep-seated inequalities, particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and minority communities, research by the OECD states.

Ireland’s education system has garnered international acclaim for its strong performance in literacy, mathematics, and science. However, challenges persist, particularly in addressing inequalities for socio-economically disadvantaged students, as highlighted by two 2024 OECD reports.

Education at a Glance 2024 and the OECD Review of Resourcing Schools to Address Education Disadvantage in Ireland to Address Educational Disadvantage in Ireland explore these issues in depth, offering a comprehensive overview of Ireland’s strengths, shortcomings, and opportunities for fostering equity.

Ireland’s achievements in education are notable. According to Education at a Glance 2024, tertiary attainment among adults aged between 25 and 64 reached 54 per cent in 2022, well above the OECD average of 40 per cent. Similarly, the share of young adults without upper secondary

qualifications has dropped significantly, standing at 5 per cent, far below the OECD average of 14 per cent.

However, Education at a Glance 2024 also underscores persistent inequalities, particularly for students from Traveller and Roma communities and those living in areas of concentrated disadvantage.

Gender disparities compound these challenges. Women dominate in tertiary education, yet young men outperform them in early school leaving metrics. Meanwhile, regional differences such as lower secondary enrolment rates in the Eastern and Midland regions highlight the uneven distribution of educational opportunities.

Evaluating the DEIS Programme

The OECD Review of Resourcing Schools to Address Education Disadvantage in Ireland provides an in-depth evaluation of the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) programme, Ireland’s

primary strategy for addressing educational disadvantage. Launched in 2005, DEIS now supports nearly 30 per cent of Irish schools with additional resources, including smaller class sizes, enhanced school meal programmes, and targeted literacy and numeracy interventions.

While the programme has narrowed achievement gaps, challenges remain. The OECD Review of Resourcing Schools to Address Education Disadvantage in Ireland highlights the rigidity of DEIS eligibility thresholds, which leave some schools and students without support despite clear needs. Additionally, the report emphasises the demand for a “DEIS Plus” category to address the “acute challenges faced by schools serving the most disadvantaged communities”.

Challenges in resourcing

Ireland’s baseline school funding ensures relative parity, but additional costs, such as voluntary contributions, often fall on parents. According to Education at a Glance 2024, non-DEIS schools are far more likely to rely on these contributions, placing an undue burden on lower-income families. Furthermore, staff shortages disproportionately affect disadvantaged schools, with the OECD Review of Resourcing Schools to Address Education Disadvantage in Ireland identifying teacher retention and recruitment as critical issues.

The OECD Review of Resourcing Schools to Address Education Disadvantage in Ireland also critiques the use of the Pobal Haase Pratschke (HP) Index for allocating DEIS resources. While scientifically validated, the index omits variables like immigrant and minority status, potentially excluding high-need students. The OECD Review of Resourcing Schools to Address Education Disadvantage in Ireland recommends refining these indicators and adopting a more dynamic approach to resource allocation to better address the diverse needs of Ireland’s schools.

Early childhood education

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) is vital for reducing developmental gaps, yet Education at a Glance 2024 points to stark disparities in access. Participation rates for children from low-income families are far below those of wealthier peers – 7 per cent versus 54 per cent.

Furthermore, Ireland has one of the longest “childcare gaps” among OECD countries, with free early education starting five years after paid parental leave ends. Bridging this gap is critical for levelling the playing field and ensuring long-term equity.

Empowering teachers and schools

The OECD Review of Resourcing Schools to Address Education Disadvantage in Ireland commends Ireland for its professional development initiatives within DEIS schools but identifies systemic challenges affecting teacher capacity, including staff shortages and a lack of diversity in the teaching workforce. Embedding professional development within a structured improvement cycle and reducing barriers to participation could, the OECD argues, address these gaps.

OECD Review of Resourcing Schools to Address Education Disadvantage in Ireland also highlights the importance of fostering collaboration and peer learning among teachers, stating that initiatives such as the State’s new support service, Oide, show promise in facilitating knowledge sharing and capacity building. However, the OECD states that further investment is needed to embed these practices across all schools.

The need for collaboration and coordination

Educational disadvantage is often intertwined with broader social challenges, such as housing insecurity and mental health challenges. The OECD Review of Resourcing Schools to Address Education Disadvantage in Ireland underscores the need for stronger coordination between Ireland’s education, health, and social services sectors. As such, the OECD says that schools frequently shoulder the burden of navigating fragmented systems, diverting time and resources from their core mission.

For example, long waiting times for psychological assessments and limited access to therapeutic services “disproportionately impact disadvantaged schools”. The OECD therefore argues that improved interagency collaboration would alleviate these pressures and enable a more holistic approach to student wellbeing.

Analysis

As highlighted by both OECD reviews, Ireland’s education system is a general high-performer with some underlying challenges. While the DEIS programme demonstrates government’s commitment to addressing disadvantage, structural reforms are needed to unlock its full potential. Nevertheless, with targeted investments, refined policies, and strengthened collaboration, Ireland has an opportunity to lead globally in inclusive education.

An Chomhairle um Oideachas Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta (COGG)

Bunaíodh COGG in 2002, COGG is an aegis body under the Department of Education.

COGG’s remit includes: provision of textbooks, resources and services through Irish, funding and facilitation of research on all related matters and provision of advice and information to the Minister for Education and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment on Irish medium education and the teaching of Irish.

While COGG has achieved much success over the past twenty years in providing textbooks, resources and services for schools in addition to facilitating the provision of a considerable corpus of research on Irish medium education and the teaching of Irish, we will concentrate for the purposes of this article on some specific projects currently in development.

Tairseach COGG

This online digital platform is dedicated to the provision of multi-modal resources for teaching through Irish and the teaching of Irish at primary and postprimary levels. Resources are created by teachers for teachers. Over 2,500 resources are currently available on the platform. It is hoped to significantly increase the breath, range and number of resources across all subject areas in coming years.

Acmhainn chuimsitheach, chruthaitheach agus nuálach í Tairseach COGG. Cuirfear le líon na n-acmhainní de réir a chéile agus déanfar athbhreithniú rialta ar an tsoláthar atá uirthi.

Club Leabhar COGG

In 2023, COGG facilitated the establishment of reading clubs in over 20 primary and post-primary schools on a pilot basis. The aim was to encourage and support reading in Irish for enjoyment and also to support the acquisition of Irish for learners and native speakers to extend and enrich their linguistic skills.

Researchers from Mary Immaculate College of Education carried out research on the reading clubs in 2024 –research which is published on COGG’s website. The research highlights the effectiveness of the clubs in fostering interest in reading books in Irish. Over 50 schools are now involved in the scheme with a waiting list for 2025.

Is iomaí taca a chuirtear ar fáil do scoileanna atá rannpháirteach lena náirítear sraith leabhar i seánraí éagsúla, leabhair ghníomhaíochta, cuairteanna scoile ó údair na saothar mar aon le deontas chun dreasachtaí beaga a chur i bhfeidhm i riaradh na gClubanna Leabhar i scoileanna. Anuas air sin, cuirtear acmhainní breise tacaíochta (bileoga oibre, gluais agus póstaeir) ar fáil ar ardán thiomnaithe na heagraíochta, Tairseach COGG.

STEM: A haon, a dó, Spraoi

This project is a partnership between COGG, Lorraine Harbison (DCU) and Fighting Words. The focus is on teaching mathematics through stories in order to situate mathematics in real life situations. In the new Primary mathematics curriculum (Department of Education, 2023) there is a focus on playful methodologies as well as encouraging conversations about Mathematics, challenging cognitive tasks and formative assessment.

Is é aidhm an togra seo ná go rachadh na daltaí i dtaithí ar scéalta matamatice a chumadh le béim ar an gcruthaitheacht, ar an tsamhlaíocht agus ar an spraoi.

Sraith físeán

In co-operation with the Amber Institute in Trinity College, COGG has produced a series of videos highlighting, for children in senior classes in primary

school, the various careers associated with STEM.

Career opportunities with Irish and through Irish

Being able to speak Irish as well as English and other languages opens many doors for students and young people, both at home and abroad. To illustrate the many advantages having Irish confers on students and young people embarking on college courses or careers, COGG has developed an attractive and highly informative resource for guidance counsellors, Irish teachers and students.

Ní hamháin go dtugtar léargas cuimsitheach ar ghairmeacha éagsúla le Gaeilge san acmhainn seo ach roinntear sonraí luachmhara freisin faoin iliomad cúrsaí tríú leibhéil, deiseanna breisoideachais, printísigh, sparánachtaí, scoláireachtaí, deontais agus scéimeanna cónaithe.

Immersion education: The benefits supported by research

Over the past 20 years, COGG has funded a considerable corpus of research in conjunction with many other third level institutions and researchers. In order to make this research more accessible for teachers and parents, Claire Dunne from Marino Insitute of Education has carried out a comprehensive analysis of the research leading to the publication of a guide for

schools and parents as well as the more complete analysis.

Tá obair shuntasach idir lámha ag COGG freisin i réimse riachtanais speisialta oideachais ag an mbunleibhéal agus ag an dara leibhéal.

Upskilling Irish language skills for primary teachers in schools teaching through English

During 2023, COGG and Education Support Centres Ireland (ESCI) collaborated to provide an Irish course in almost every education centre. The course designed by COGG focused on encouraging and supporting teachers to engage with the myriads of resources available, to explore innovative ways to teach Irish and engage pupils, and the effective use of technology for language learning. All 330 attending teachers received a resource pack to return for use in their schools.

Bailíodh aiseolas ó na múinteoirí agus léiríodh go raibh taithí thar a bheith dearfach acu. Thuairiscíodar níos mó muiníne i labhairt na Gaeilge, an luach a bhaineann le Gaeilge neamhfhoirmiúil a chur chun cinn ar fud na scoile agus feasacht ar na hacmhainní atá ar fáil do mhúineadh na Gaeilge.

W: www.cogg.ie

W: www.tairseachcogg.ie

Shadow education breeds inequality and serves few in Ireland

The prevalence of ‘grinds’ reinforces educational inequality and only benefits the children of more economically advantaged families in the State, research by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) states.

The study entitled Participation in shadow education and academic performance in Ireland and Germany, contrasts shadow education take-up (commonly referred to as ‘grinds’ in Ireland) and outcomes in the two systems.

The study indicates that participation in shadow education is much higher in Ireland than in Germany, with 55 per cent of Irish students taking part in their final year of school compared with 16 to 20 per cent per year in Germany. Moreover, the study found that female students are more likely to take part than male students in both countries.

While the grading systems in Ireland and Germany are different, with teacher-assessed test results at the end of each school year mattering in Germany and externally-assessed Leaving Certificate grades counting in Ireland, the use of shadow education is becoming

increasingly common in both countries, with researchers finding that medium-achieving students in Ireland enrol in grinds to increase their chances of doing well and securing a university place.

Who benefits from grinds?

The two countries also differ in the prior achievement levels of participants, reflecting the nature of the system. The study states: “In Germany, students have been tracked by ability at an earlier stage but must reach a ‘sufficient’ grade each year to avoid having to repeat a year.”

As a result, lower-achieving students are more likely to take-up shadow education to avoid being kept back a year. The study says that for Ireland, “grades matter for higher education entry,” thus shadow education is used. Furthermore, participation in shadow education

is more socially selective in Ireland, with students whose parents have higher-status jobs and higher-level income, more likely to access shadow education whereas in Germany, only being in the top fight of household incomes makes a difference in take-up. Therefore, Germany is less socially differentiated and is instead, focused on keeping up with academic work to ensure students avoid being held back a year.

In addition, the findings in the study highlight that German shadow education can benefit low-achieving students by helping them maintain the grades needed to progress to the next academic year. In Ireland, there are some benefits of shadow education to lower-achieving students, but according the ESRI’s study there is “little, if any gain, for their middle and higher-achieving peers”.

However, the ESRI’s study concludes that, taken together, “private tuition is frequently used to avoid educational failure for lower-achieving young people from more families (higher income in the case of Germany, and higher status and income in Ireland), thus reinforcing educational inequality”.

Grinds and inequality

Grinds benefit students from a socially advantaged socioeconomic background in Ireland, with the lowest achieving students in Ireland least likely to take-up grinds. In addition, students from a migrant background are also less likely to engage in private tuition in Ireland, while the same gap does not exist in Germany.

While there are some non-profit examples of shadow education in Ireland, the forprofit market has an estimated value at €60 million at second level, according to Trinity News

In a 2022 ESRI study entitled Shadow Education uptake among final year students in Irish secondary schools: Wellbeing in a high stakes context, Selina McCoy and Delma Byrne stated that “a growing grinds culture in Ireland”, sees three-in-five sixth year students paying for extra tuition to boost their Leaving Certs, and highlight the danger of social stratification as a consequence of shadow education.

Another study by the duo published in March 2024 states: “Evidence suggests that shadow education is a key determinant of higher education entry in Ireland,” therefore establishing a quantifiable difference for those who do and do not partake, and those who find their desired place in third-level education.

The pair also note that shadow education shadow education “poses particular challenges” for policymakers across the world. In their discussions of the subject matter, McCoy and Byrne state that “shadow education is much less about pupils who are in real need of gaining support that they cannot find a school, and much more about maintaining the competitive advantages within school for the already successful and privileged.”

The pair say that high-achievers, the most conscientious students, and students at the lowest end of the educational performance scale, are least likely to take out-ofschool tuition. They emphasise: “Grinds are more common among pupils in feepaying schools, and least likely among pupils in Deis schools serving disadvantaged communities,” as well as shadow education, having become “an accepted component of examination success for many students.”

Their analysis highlights that grinds have become too normalised and only serve to leave students “exhausted”, noting that many of the student simply do not need the added monetary and social cost of engaging in shadow education, but highlight that because grinds have become so mainstream in Irish education, students engaging in grinds did not attribute their participation to their high stress levels.

Action plan for higher education sector reform

Following publication of the Public Service Agreement 2024-2026, a number of proposed reforms have been brought forward for delivery in the higher education sector.

The Higher Education Sector Action Plan is one of nine sectoral action plans geared at delivering the reform agenda of the Public Service Agreement 20242026, which supports the framework for transformation as set out in Better Public Services: The Public Service Transformation 2030 Strategy and the Civil Service Renewal 2030 Strategy

The action plan identifies four priorities, developed by management of the higher education sector in consultation with staff unions and associations, and is published by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.

Supporting the delivery of the higher education strategies and reform plans

Outlining an ambition to deliver “continued cooperation, engagement and support” for the implementation of the strategic objectives for the higher education sector, the plan states that it will support students reaching their full potential and support the creation of a highly skilled workforce by further developing the technological university sector, including staffing structures.

A development of a policy platform “for a more unified tertiary sector” is aimed at ensuring the successful, efficient, and effectiveness of the technological university sector, including the integration of administrative processes across multicampus.

Finally, the higher education sector will assist with managing the national

response to the challenges of climate change through cooperation and engagement with the sector’s sustainability agenda with a particular focus on energy efficiency and decarbonisation initiatives.

Continuing to enhance business, operational, policy changes to meet strategic objectives

The sector pledges to “cooperate and engage” with proposals that require flexible approaches to service delivery in “recognition of the unpredictable and fast-moving environment that we now operate in”.

Alongside the pledge to continue engage and support all employees to ensure good institutional governance, while addressing identified deficiencies, the sector says that it will provide cooperation and engagement on new and revised HR policies in support of ongoing change initiatives.

This aligns with an agreement to engage on agreeing revised working arrangements and/or practices to support improved and more accessible services and courses where a need is identified.

The plan states that the further development of internal efficiencies and good governance to improve the service to students and promote better public services more generally, as well as ensuring quality student learning experiences, will be met by the implementation of new measures to increase internal efficiencies and cooperation and engagement with associated changes to service delivery.

Embracing and supporting transformation through the use of technology

Aiming for the creation of efficiencies and synergies “that streamline operations and allow HEIs to focus on their core business and mission”, the plan says that the higher education sector will cooperate and engage with the unification of systems to streamline operations and participate in any relevant training required, while also continuing to engage and support transformation through the use of new technologies.

Build on previous commitments for an agile and flexible workforce and maximise flexible service delivery options

Alongside a pledge to support the mainstreaming of flexible learning opportunities in order to support inclusion and improved access to services, the plan says that the higher education sector will co-operate on the implementation of a full spectrum of online course delivery “that reflects the equality of experience for students”, including access to recorded lectures for a defined period of time.

Building on the achievements of the online provision of third level education experienced during Covid-19, the sector says it will develop new ways of working that take advantage of the benefits of blended working and remote delivery, and expand provision in key skills area, including through Human Capital Initiative 2.0

In order to achieve this, the action plan sates that the sector will: “Sustain the spirit of public service agility and delivery and build on the commitments in previous agreements, apply the provisions set out in those agreements and to support the ongoing transformation of public services following consultation and agreement, where appropriate, with the unions concerned.”

Sectoral management will, in due course, report on the progress of delivery of the reforms identified in the action plans.

At the end of August 2024, the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform published a report on progress made in delivery of reforms outlined in the Higher education sectoral action plan, developed in line with the Public Service Agreement 2024 – 2026.

DCU Business School: Driving excellence and innovation

In 2024 Dublin City University (DCU) Business School secured the final piece of the prestigious ‘triple crown’ of accreditations – EQUIS, AACSB, and AMBA – placing it among the top 1 per cent of business schools worldwide. This elite status underscores the school’s unwavering commitment to academic excellence, innovation, and industry collaboration.

The EQUIS accreditation, awarded by the European Foundation for Management Development, is a globally recognised benchmark for quality. It affirms DCU’s strong academic standards, impactful research, and deep industry connections.

The school also retained the Small Business Charter accreditation, establishing DCU as the only Irish business school in the Republic to hold this distinctive combination of accolades.

Looking ahead: Launching the DCU Institute of Research in Life Sciences

In 2025, DCU Business School will expand its impact with the launch of the DCU Institute of Research in Life Sciences. This ambitious initiative will lead innovative research, addressing pressing challenges in business and society.

“Our vision is to establish DCU Business School as a global leader in research

that has a meaningful and positive impact on society,” says interim Director Colm O’Gorman. “The Institute will foster collaboration with academic, industry, and policy partners to create innovative, sustainable, and trustworthy solutions.”

The Institute brings together 65 leading faculty members, PhD researchers, and international collaborators to tackle cutting-edge issues through innovative research areas like trust, decent and sustainable work, family business, and online harms. By leveraging DCU’s proven expertise, we are building a world-class research institute that not only pushes boundaries in academic excellence but also delivers impactful solutions to real-world challenges.

Celebrating research excellence and industry impact

DCU Business School’s achievements extend beyond accreditations. Faculty members were named among Stanford University’s Top 2 per cent researchers worldwide, highlighting the School’s leadership in areas such as digital innovation and sustainable work. In addition, DCU won the ‘Outstanding Stakeholder Engagement’ award at the 2024 Small Business Charter Excellence Awards, recognising its impactful initiative supporting family businesses.

Join us

Prospective students can join this community of excellence by exploring postgraduate opportunities at: business.dcu.ie/post-graduate/ Industry leaders seeking innovative solutions can collaborate with DCU’s experts at: business.dcu.ie/collaboratewith-us/

Programme for north-south education collaboration

Education ministers north and south have agreed a revised work programme which will enhance collaboration in key education areas.

Education is one of many areas in which the Government and the Executive in the North seek to cooperate through the medium of the North-South Ministerial Council (NSMC). In its most recent meeting on education, the NSMC agreed a new education work programme as a basis for collaboration between the two jurisdictions.

The agreed work programme focuses on:

• special education and inclusion;

• educational disadvantage;

• teacher qualifications;

• school, youth and teaching exchanges;

• digital/artificial intelligence in schools and education;

• early years education; and

• cooperation under the Common Travel Area.

The work programme follows a number of recent education commitments by the Government, under the Department of the Taoiseach’s Shared Island Initiative, to support cross-border education collaboration.

The first of these is a €13.3 million funding package for the PEACEPLUS Programme, which aims to civic exchanges, youth mental health, and peace and prosperity in educational settings in the border regions.

The other significant commitment is a €24 million package for a pilot cooperation programme in 2024 and 2025 to address the “educational disadvantage”, supported by an allocation of €24 million from the Government’s Shared Island Fund.

Speaking to eolas Magazine in early 2024, Minister for Education Norma Foley said: “We have young people from Northern Ireland who are on the border working in the South with us and

[people living in] the South working and crossing over [to the North].

“The more closely we can work together, learn from each other and support each other. I think even the vision of the shared Island, even by its title, is a significant one,” she said.

At the NSMC meeting, the two ministers agreed that respective inspectorates, along with their commissioning departments, will explore the potential for funding to enable either or both inspectorates to be commissioned as the evaluators of choice/preferred evaluators and to provide a complete monitoring assurance evaluation service to relevant projects and programmes.

They further committed to the “cooperation and sharing of knowledge in early years education”, further agreeing to programme share information on respective research models and structures, as well as approaches to skills and governance.