Better Public Services Awards Nominees 2026

The Better Public Services Awards are an annual celebration honouring outstanding achievements in innovation, collaboration and delivery across the civil and public service. Launched in November 2026, there are 12 categories for nomination all of which are aligned with the Public Service Transformation 2030 Strategy.

Thank you to everyone who entered this year's awards and to our volunteer evaluators, also drawn from across the civil and public service, who reviewed and evaluated all of the projects. Please see below a list of this year's nominees.

Category 01: Digital First

Department of Health and the Health Service Executive (HSE)
Project title: National Scaling of Acute Virtual Wards

Department of Education and Youth, Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) and schools
Project title: Designing Better Public Services: Case Management System (CMS) Department's Digital Transformation Journey

Department of Social Protection (DSP) and Citizens Information Board (CIB)
Project title: AskCI – an AI-powered chatbot for Citizens Information

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Category 02: Joined up public services

Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, An Garda Síochána, the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health
Project title: CAST (Community Access Support Team)

Department of Children, Disability and Equality and Tusla, the Child and Family Agency
Project title: Cross Government Implementation of Barnahus in Ireland

Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration and Forensic Science Ireland
Project title: Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) DNA Application for Sample Handling (DASH)

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Category 03: Innovation at scale

Department of Education and Youth and the Education Procurement Service (EPS)
Project title: Development of a centralised procurement solution for the Post-primary Schoolbooks Scheme

Ard-Rúnaí na Roinne Forbartha Tuaithe agus Pobail agus Gaeltachta agus Comhairle Cathrach Bhaile Átha Cliath/ Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht and Dublin City Council
Project title: Gaeilge365

Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Galway County Council
Project title: Community Monuments StoryMaps

Category 04: Leading through learning

Department of Education and Youth and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA)
The Primary School Curriculum - Review and Redevelopment

Department of Children, Disability and Equality
Project title: Children and Young People’s Participation in Decision-making: an Introductory eLearning Course

Department of Public Expenditure Infrastructure Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (OGP), InterTradeIreland and Department of Enterprise Tourism and Employment
Project title: Government Supply Expo

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Category 05: Driving Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Department of Children, Disability and Equality and the National Disability Authority
Project title: Co-Design development of the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030 in partnership with Disability Stakeholder

Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, Meath County Council, An Garda Síochána, Department of Health, Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage, Department of Transport, Department of Culture, Communications and Sports and the Health Service Executive (HSE)
Project title: Age Friendly Ireland Shared Service Office in Meath County Council

South East Technological University, SETU and Waterford Local Community Safety Partnership (WLCSP) under Waterford City and County Council (WCCC) with support from Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, South East Technological University, SETU and Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration
Project title: Consent Matters

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Category 06: Shaping the workforce of the Future

Department of Social Protection (DSP) and Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation
Project title: Civil Service ICT Apprenticeship Programme

Department of Social Protection (DSP)
Project title: Strategic Workforce Planning. From Insights to Action: Transforming our Workforce Future

Department of Education and Youth and Oide Technology in Education (Oide TiE)
Project title: Guidance on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Schools

Category 07: Human-centred policy and service design

Department of Health, Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI)
Project title: Delivery of the Common Conditions Service by community pharmacists in Ireland

Department of Children, Disability and Equality, Pobal, Department of Health and Safefood
Project title: Bia Blasta Pre-School Nutrition Programme

Department of Transport, National Ambulance Service, Department of Health, Attorney General’s Office, Chief State Solicitor’s Office, Department of Housing Local Government and Heritage (Fire Brigade Service), Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, Health Service Executive and Department of Defence and Defence Forces, An Garda Síochána and the Irish Aviation Service
Project title: The Renewal and Enhancement of the Irish Coast Guard’s (IRCG) Search and Rescue Aviation Service

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Category 08: Strategic use of data to deliver efficiency in public services

Irish Prison Service and the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration
Project title: Irish Prison Service Organisational Analytics and Dashboard

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Teagasc - the Agriculture and Food Development Authority, Bord Bia and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF)
Project title: 'AgNav' - a voluntary digital sustainability platform, available to farmers and advisors across Ireland

The Office of the Revenue Commissioners and the Central Statistics Office (CSO)
Project title: Harnessing our Assets: How Administrative Data can Strengthen Statistical Value

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Category 09: Strategic use of data to guide improvements in policy development and implementation

Department of Children, Disability and Equality and Central Statistics Office
Project title: Growing Up in Ireland: Cohort '24

Department of Transport and An Garda Síochána
Project title: The Irish Motor Insurance Database

Department of Health and the Health Service Executive (HSE)
Project title: Framework Agreements on the Supply and Pricing of Medicines (FASPM)

Category 10: Delivering in a dynamic environment

Office of Public Works and the Office of the Revenue Commissioners
Project title: Rosslare Europort Terminal 7 and Enabling Works

Department of Culture, Communications and Sport and Dublin City Council including the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, National Transport Authority, An Garda Síochána, Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Ireland and Sport Ireland
Project title: Hosting of Ireland’s First Regular NFL Game – Croke Park, September 2025

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of the Taoiseach
Project title: Ireland’s participation in the G20 – 2025

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Category 11: Climate action and sustainable government

Department of Transport, Transport Infrastructure Ireland
Project title: TII Climate Adaptation Implementation Plan for National Roads 2026 to 2030

Department of Transport and Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment (DCEE)
Project title: Development of Ireland’s first Sustainable Aviation Fuel Policy Roadmap

Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Dublin & Dun Laoghaire Education & Training Board and the Irish Prison Service
Project title: Cloverhill: First Green Campus in the World

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Category 12: World class public services

Department of Social Protection (DSP)
Project title: Establishment of MyFutureFund – the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings system

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Office of Public Works
Project title: Ireland at Expo 2025

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Project title: Evacuating Irish and Palestinian Citizens from Gaza

• Nominee days: 5 and 7 May 2026

• The award ceremony will be held on Thursday, 25 June 2026 in the Whyte Recital Hall, Royal Irish Academy of Music, Westland Row, Dublin 2.

If you would have any queries relating to the awards please email the Better Public Services Awards team: bpsevents@per.gov.ie.