Transform Gov - the digital government podcast

In this episode, Maeve Kneafsey talks with Paula Lyons, Ass. Secretary and Head of Service Development at the Department of Social Protection, about how her team is redesigning services around life events like having a child, retirement, or bereavement.They discuss:Why DSP’s philosophy is “digital by desire”, not by forceHow citizen trust and data sharing are unlocking connected servicesThe next generation of online welfare and pension servicesA must-listen for anyone shaping digital government and citizen-first transformation.Subscribe now for personal email updates www.digitalgovawards.com01:05 – What motivates Paula to stay in public service10:00 – How “Digital by Desire” became DSP’s guiding principle24:05 – Designing services around real life events29:30 – AI pilots and the future of digital service delivery

Ireland is preparing radical moves to accelerate housing delivery. But what if the real breakthrough doesn’t come from policy — but from technology?In this episode of Transform Gov, Maeve Kneafsey meets Gavin Duffy, Founder & CEO of RealSim, the Irish company building ultra-accurate 3D digital twins of real towns, cities, and infrastructure.Gavin explains how immersive planning tools can speed up decisions, reduce objections, and help councils and agencies build better homes and infrastructure, faster.From Jersey to Fingal and Balbriggan, this is a masterclass in practical digital transformation for public planning and housing delivery.Digital twin Ireland, housing emergency Ireland, planning reform Ireland, public-sector innovation, RealSim, Gavin Duffy, Maeve Kneafsey, Transform Gov, Fingal County Council, Balbriggan regeneration, Jersey planning model, e-planning Ireland, 3D planning tools, Irish housing delivery, local authority innovation.00:00 – Why Ireland’s housing emergency needs new tools04:30 – What RealSim actually does in plain English08:10 – Lessons from Jersey’s planning transformation14:00 – Why Irish planning is still PDF-first18:40 – Balbriggan case study25:00 – How digital twins reduce objections30:40 – What councils need to adopt digital twins35:30 – The future: national digital twin for Ireland

Childhood movement skills — hopping, skipping, throwing, catching — have collapsed globally. But one Irish spin-out is changing that story.Dr Jamie McGann, co-founder of MoveAhead, joins Maeve Kneafsey on Transform Gov to reveal how his Dublin-based team built the world’s largest dataset of children’s movement, and how it’s now driving apps, curricula, and classrooms from Ireland to China.In this award-winning collaboration with Smart D8, MoveAhead helps teachers objectively assess movement, personalise PE through AI, and bring physical literacy back into the heart of education.Learn how Irish innovation can tackle one of the biggest health and education challenges of our time.Listen, share, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts — or watch on YouTube UC8jdqo_NbX6BHmkTynUdWJw.Kinder Joy of Moving, Kinder App, Smart D8, Dublin City University, DCU, Sport Ireland, NCCA, Irish EdTech, Global Child Health, Movement Skills, AI in Education

Can AI make decisions, not just suggestions? Professor Alan Smeaton — DCU researcher, Government AI Advisory Council member and builder of Ireland’s first AI teaching assistant — explains what agentic AI really means and why Estonia is blazing ahead and already using it in classrooms. He tells host Maeve Kneafsey why Ireland can’t afford to wait, how data can save citizens money, and why AI literacy must become a national skill and future economic stability and growth.[00:00] When AI starts to act  [06:00] Teaching the machines that teach us  [13:00] Estonia’s national rollout  [22:00] What is Agentic AI?  [30:00] Why AI literacy matters nowAgentic AI, Artificial Intelligence in Government, Digital Government, Public Sector Transformation, Generative AI, AI Literacy, Alan Smeaton, DCU, AI Advisory Council Ireland, Estonia Digital Government, Ireland eGovernment Awards, Accenture Public Sector, Transform Gov Podcast, Ireland, Europe

From leading roles in the London 2012 Olympics to advising governments on next-generation infrastructure, Huda As’ad of Accenture believes we’re entering a new golden age — where AI, data, and digital twins redefine how nations build, maintain, and sustain public infrastructure.In this episode of Transform Gov, she explains how technology can cut waste, enhance safety, and build public trust in delivery.

From the London Olympics to Ireland’s National Development Plan — Huda As’ad, Managing Director for Capital Projects & Infrastructure at Accenture, shares how data, AI, and digital twins are reshaping how nations build and maintain public assets.Learn how predictive analytics is saving 25% on maintenance costs, how transparency builds trust, and why “fail fast, learn fast” is the new rule for public projects that deliver real outcomes.

A conversation with one of the Ireland’s and UK's most influential CIOs on people-first transformation, AI in action, and why governance makes or breaks digital change.Richard Corbridge has led some of the biggest digital transformations in health, government and retail — from Ireland’s HSE and the NHS to Boots, the UK’s Department for Work & Pensions, and now property giant Segro. In this episode, Richard shares what it takes to keep technology people-first, how to make AI deliver real outcomes, and why governance and culture shape the CIO role more than ever. A must-listen for digital leaders navigating transformation in both the public and private sector.Key Topics for CIOsPeople-first digital transformation — why “citizen, patient, customer or colleague” all come first, not the tech.The evolving CIO role — moving from “the basement” to the boardroom, and why CIOs must be catalysts and foundations for change.AI in the public sector — lessons from the UK Dept. of Work & Pensions on using AI to read 24,000 handwritten letters daily and deliver help in 24 hours instead of 4 weeks.Avoiding AI hype — how to stop “AI for AI’s sake” and pick the right problems to solve.Governance that enables speed — why private sector governance delivers faster transformation and what public sector can learn.Agile vs. perfection — “Don’t let great be the enemy of good” in digital deployment.Building digital talent pipelines — attracting and developing IT professionals in public service, and tackling diversity and generational gaps.Cross-sector insights — how lessons from health, retail, government and industry overlap and inform each other.Future vision for public services — joined-up government, once-only data use, and seamless citizen experience.Personal side of leadership — balancing life as CIO with a thousand-strong vinyl collection and a “collector’s mindset.”

When the National Broadband Plan reached Longford, Danny Lynch and his team turned a rural challenge into a digital revolution. Partnering with Microsoft and Ericsson, they introduced hundreds of schoolchildren to coding, built new digital career pathways, and helped transform Longford into a hub of opportunity. Discover how a small county became a big player in Ireland’s public-sector digital transformation.

AI in government has shifted from “don’t touch it” to “how fast can we scale it?” In this episode of Transform Gov, host Maeve Kneafsey speaks with Marianne Cassidy of the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform about Ireland’s updated AI guidelines—designed not to restrict, but to empower.Discover how cross-functional teams (from HR to legal to CIOs) shaped practical frameworks and decision tools; why real use cases—from Revenue, Agriculture and the HSE—were the turning point; how the IPA is embedding AI into CPD and leadership training; and why trust, GDPR compliance and collaboration are critical to scaling safe, human-centric AI across the public sector.If you work in digital transformation, service design, or policy innovation, this is a must-listen: insights, examples, and lessons you can apply right now.