Prizes in eight categories were presented by An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, in Dublin before an invited audience of nearly 250 guests. The contest, now in its second year, recognises excellence and creativity in technology initiatives in the public sector.
The department also took home the Best Partnership Project category, for its work on the e-SAD Project with the Revenue Commissioners. The project uses the Reach Public Services Broker to let exporters submit declarations to the Revenue and to the Department of Agriculture.
In its third award win of the night, the department also picked up the prize for Innovative Organisation of the Year or its deployment of several technology-based solutions, including the delivery of the Single Farm Payment system and rolling out the Animal Health Computer System.
The award for best project in the Government to Government category went to the Department of the Taoiseach for the e-Cabinet project. The e-Cabinet project implemented an electronic system for securely circulating all documents related to the Cabinet decision-making process. The system supports 25,000 document transmissions, dramatically reducing process and consultation times and paper usage.
Meanwhile, in the Government to Citizen category, Donegal County Council won for its e-Planning System, which enables the public to view planning applications over the web.
The award for best project within an organisation category was won by the Houses of the Oireachtas for the Oireachtas Translation Aid Project, which developed software to help with producing official translations of primary legislation documentation.
Joe Horan, of South Dublin County Council, won the prize for Innovator of the Year. Horan is County Manager for South Dublin County Council, where his IT innovation improved services to customers and boosted efficiencies. Horan was previously Meath County Manager, Town Clerk of Bray, and a former chairman of the Local Government Computer Services Board.
This year saw the introduction of a new award, The Inside Government Dedication to Innovation Award, in recognition of key people within the public sector seen as "thought leaders" in promoting innovation. This prize went to Colm Butler, Director of Information Society Policy Unit at the Department of the Taoiseach, for his innovative and pioneering thinking -- recognised both in Ireland and internationally.
Eircom Chief Executive Dr. Philip Nolan told the audience at the end of the ceremony that the winners had jointly shown how technology could efficiently deliver high quality and useful services to government agencies, to the public and to the business community.
The awards are run by Inside Government magazine in association with lead sponsor Eircom. Other category award sponsors included FAS, IT security specialist Entropy, computer company IBM and Comhairle, the national support agency responsible for supporting the provision of information, advice and advocacy on social services.
Autor: Cliff Hutton
Quelle: ElectricNews, 27.01.2006
