Towards a Bright Future 

This article is taken from The Public Sector Magazine's issue on Dáil Éireann Centenary: 1919 – 2019 

In January of this year, Dáil Eireann celebrated 100 years since it first sat in Dublin’s Mansion House. The significance and legacy of this day 100 years ago cannot be underestimated – the Declaration of Independence and the items discussed, formed and remain the fundamentals of the country and society in which we live. At Deloitte, we too are celebrating a milestone - 175 years of the firm across the globe next year. As we move towards this significant landmark in our business, we will reflect on its legacy over that time, how our previous leaders have shaped the organisation that we are today, and the impact that we have had on our clients, our people and on the societies in which we operate. Our purpose as a business is to make an impact that matters. That was as true 175 years as it is today.

Here in Ireland, an important part of the impact that we have made as a business has been the work that we have carried out across the civil and public service.

For the last five years, I have lead the Government and Public Services practice at Deloitte in Ireland. I am proud of the work we have done for and with the civil and public service, to make a difference for our society. If you upload your tax-deductible receipts through RevApp, apply for social welfare benefits through mywelfare.ie, or use electronic maternity healthcare records, you are seeing just some of the tangible impacts of Deloitte’s public service work. In the Health Service, our teams worked in hospitals in Cork and Kerry, to support the implementation of the Maternity and Newborn Clinical Management System (MN-CMS), a digital health record which enables safer, more effective care. We have also worked with the civil and public services in ways that may be less visible, but just as impactful. We supported the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in a series of reform and transformation programmes. We helped in the establishment of shared services, in international benchmarking of reform plans, and most recently, in developing a roadmap to a more innovative public service.

As I consider all of the work we have done across the civil and public service – beyond those which I have mentioned above – a couple of commonalities strike me. One is a spirit of collaboration. I have always found our public service clients open to working collaboratively with us, and finding the best solution and outcomes. Sometimes, this has meant robust and lengthy debate! But this has always been in a collaborative and constructive way.

Another is the civil and public service’s willingness to innovate. There is sometimes a perception that the public service isn’t innovative or is reluctant to change, but that hasn’t been our experience. Delivering value with public monies is rightfully front of mind always, and when innovative solutions can deliver this, the sector is open to these. We have brought leading technology or organisational solutions to our clients over our years working with them. In my experience, this has been met by the civil and public service with the willingness and courage to consider, adopt and implement the right solutions at the right time.

Most of all, however, what has struck me has been the common goal to create a better society and country in which to live. On the first day of Dáil Eireann in 1919, members discussed a number of items after the Declaration of Independence, including, of course, the importance of liberty, equality and justice for all, the importance to provide for the well-being of children and to improve the conditions of people working and living in Ireland. In my view, this goal to serve the public and make Ireland a better country remains as strong as ever at all levels within the organisations we have worked with. For our part, we will continue to ensure that we are best placed to help our public services evolve in the ways that they need to. This involves us evolving too, making sure that we continue to bring our leading innovation to the civil and public service. This includes introducing new offerings such as GovLab, our services to support the public service to become more innovative and develop innovative solutions that work for them, as well as continuing to bring new technologies and solutions to the sector. At Deloitte, we are exceptionally proud of the work that we do with Government and public service organisations. We try hard to deliver a tangible and meaningful impact with the work that we do – and to play our part in making Ireland a better country. It’s a role that we are proud to play. We look forward to continuing it.

This article is taken from The Public Sector Magazine's issue on Dáil Éireann Centenary: 1919 – 2019.