The Irish government Awards celebrate and applaud excellence, innovation and creativity in the Irish Public Sector. Operating as the recognised benchmark for excellence in Irish eGovernment services and standards, the Irish eGovernment awards raise awareness about the innovators, developers, forward thinkers and experts who are pioneering the changes happening in how the Irish Government delivers services to its citizens. More information about these awards can be found here, with the next award ceremony for 2014 planned for September 2014.
Below we have listed just some of the interesting projects and services that won awards at the most recent Irish eGovernement Awards Ceremony.
Irish eGovernment Awards: Case Study 1
Accessible Ireland Award
Pilot 112 SMS Service, Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources
The project team here eveloped an invaluable service allowing deaf, hard of hearing and speech-impaired people in the Republic of Ireland send SMS text messages to the Emergency Call Answering Service (ECAS). From here, the messages issued are then passed on to An Garda Siochana, the Ambulance Service, the Fire Service, or the Irish Coastguard as the ECAS operator acts as a relay between the texter and the required emergency service. A video explaining the 112 SMS Service and how it works is available here. This project is a great innovation in emergency services and communication services, and is a great example of one of the ways in which technology can be innovatively tailored to provide cruical public services.
Irish eGovernment Awards: Case Study 2
Central Ireland Award Health Service Executive for Get Ireland Active
The project team in the Health Service Executive won the Central Ireland Award in 2012 for their website www.getirelandactive.ie. This website was developed to promote fitness, physical activity and health in Ireland. The website features links to information, guidelines, resources and relevant events in relation to exercise. Originally developed to promote the National Physical Activity guidelines, the site has now been further developed to become a one-stop shop for physical activity information. This webite is well worth checking out with really useful and up-to-date information freely available on exercise and the benefits of keeping active.Given the health benefits of exercise long lauded by all health professionals, this website serves a clearly beneficial public service and was celebrated duely for it when the HSE were awarded an eGovernment Award for their work on the website in 2012.
Irish eGovernment Awards: Case Study 3
Innovation Ireland Award Ordinance Survey Ireland for
It’s always good to be informed and to have information at your fingertips, and it is for this exact reason that Ordnance Survey Ireland created their informative and innovative website “DecisionMap.”. Decisionmap is a website created by both Twelve Horses and Ordnance Survey Ireland with the goal of encouraging use of publically available data to aid decision making in the public and private sector. Making census information, such as educational and geographical facts, readily available online, DecisionMap makes it easy to discover crucial and important data, assisting in the creation of an informed and perpetually aware public service. See for yourself, more information is available on the website here.