Ireland’s trailblazing ePlanning portal wins a Digital Transformation Award

We are thrilled to announce that the Local Government Ireland Planning System has won the prestigious ‘Most Collaborative Public Sector Project’ award at the Digital Transformation Awards!

The third annual Public Sector Digital Transformation Awards, in association with KPMG, recognised and celebrated excellence and innovation in the delivery of public sector digital transformation. Winners were announced at a black-tie ceremony held at the prestigious Round Room at Mansion House in Dublin on 16 October 2025.

The journey to digital success

This massive, six-year project brought together central government departments and 30 local authorities to replace a complicated, paper-based application process with a single, intuitive online hub.

“This award isn’t just a shiny trophy; it’s proof that when the public sector works together, digital transformation can genuinely simplify life for citizens and businesses across the country,” said Mike King, Annertech’s Director of Delivery and the project manager for the ePlanning platform.

Before this system, submitting a planning application was complex. Requirements varied from county to county, leading to confusion, errors, and lengthy delays. Our goal, alongside our partners, was clear: take that paper chaos and turn it into a single, seamless digital experience.

Annertech was responsible for building the easy-to-use forms, the dashboard for managing applications and the conditional logic that makes the process feel simple, even when the back end is doing complex work.

The impact has been immediate:

• 70% of all planning applications are now submitted digitally.
• Built-in checks dramatically reduce returns due to incomplete data.
• Users, from architects to homeowners, now have a 24/7 one-stop shop for planning applications across Ireland.

The power of people and partnership

The project's success was always dependent on the partnership model, which is why the collaboration award is so fitting. A steering committee that included multiple local authorities and government agencies met monthly to ensure the solution worked for everyone involved.

For Mike, the success boils down to teamwork.

“To deliver a project of this scale, you must be engaged with the client, the users and the team,” Mike explains. “It’s about understanding how those three directions pull against one another. You have to balance the technical brilliance with the user’s need for simplicity, and the client’s need for immediate, measurable results.”

This commitment to people over pure technology is key to Annertech's approach. 

“We’re a service business; we solve problems every day. But the most rewarding and satisfying part is working with people to overcome those challenges,” he says. 

“To see this level of collaboration recognised with an award is fantastic, because it validates the effort made by every single partner involved.”

This project is a perfect example of what Annertech, specialising in Drupal and LocalGov Drupal, can achieve when partnering with ambitious public sector bodies.

Wayne Leitch, Lead Partnership Manager of Business Post Experiences, said that “the awards are a testament to the amazing work being carried out right across the Public Sector. The Business Post are delighted to honour the achievements.”