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Public Service & Government

Digital services that can answer to the public.

Government departments, State agencies and county and city councils need services that meet accessibility law, are secure from day one, connect to other systems and come with documentation good enough to survive the end of the contract. That is what we design, build and run. Our method comes from 600+ government projects across the EU.

For Government departments, State agencies and local authorities that serve every resident, in Irish and in English, under Irish and EU rules at the same time.

Talk to us about your projectSee the matching solutions
Modern public building with a façade of stone panels and glass in a geometric pattern

  1. 28 June 2025

    Accessibility Act in application

    Key private services now carry accessibility duties too, on top of the rules public bodies already meet. In Ireland, S.I. No. 636 of 2023.

    SourceDirective (EU) 2019/882 (opens external site)

  2. 24 December 2026

    Deadline for EU Digital Identity Wallets

    Each Member State provides at least one wallet, and public services that need online identification have to accept it.

    SourceRegulation (EU) 2024/1183 (opens external site)

  3. 2 December 2027

    High-risk AI duties begin

    Public bodies using high-risk AI must then complete a fundamental rights impact assessment; the date follows the 2026 amendment.

    SourceRegulation (EU) 2024/1689 (opens external site)

600+government projects across the EU

  • For public bodies in EU Member States

Credentials

  • ISO/IEC 27001 certifiedInformation security management, certified
  • Summit Partner · SalesforceOn platforms that many public bodies already use
  • Gold Partner · SAP and OdooOn platforms that many public bodies already use

Public bodies we work with

  • Infrabel BE
  • Skeyes BE
  • Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft (BIG) AT
  • Austro Control AT
  • Bulgarian Ports Infrastructure Company BG
  • HŽ Infrastruktura HR
  • Cyprus Ports Authority CY
  • Správa železnic CZ
  • DPP Prague CZ
  • Naviair DK
  • Energinet DK
  • Elering EE
  • Fintraffic FI
  • Fingrid FI
  • RATP Group FR
  • EYDAP GR
  • HungaroControl HU
  • EirGrid IE
  • ANAS IT
  • Augstsprieguma tīkls (AST) LV
  • Lithuanian Airports LT
  • Litgrid LT
  • LuxAirport LU
  • Indis Malta MT
  • TenneT NL
  • PANSA PL
  • Infraestruturas de Portugal PT
  • Transelectrica RO
  • NDS SK
  • Enaire ES

What is shifting for the Irish public service

  1. New rules arrive at the same time

    Within a few years the AI Act, NIS2, eIDAS 2, the Interoperable Europe Act and the Data Act all reach the same systems. Ireland already has its own AI Act of 2026, and the National Cyber Security Bill is on its way. Every one of them brings documentation, risk and reporting work, and requests for tender now ask suppliers how they will help.

    SourceEU digital rulebook overview

  2. Residents want a single way in

    People want to apply, track progress and get a decision online, in Irish or English, without handing over the same documents twice. Connecting Government 2030 sets digital by default as the principle, and for key cross-border procedures once-only is already the law.

    SourceRegulation (EU) 2018/1724

  3. Experience is walking out the door

    Long-serving case officers and the engineers who understand the old code are retiring faster than new people arrive. What they carry in their heads and in ageing systems has to become documented services and tools a new generation can pick up.

  4. AI in front of the public

    AI can cut queues and backlogs, yet a public body has to explain each decision, keep a named official responsible and say openly which systems it runs. That shapes how AI is designed, not just how it is procured.

Where public bodies get stuck, and what we do

  1. The challenge

    The core case system is decades old, and each change in legislation turns into a risky release.

    What we do

    We modernise piece by piece behind stable interfaces: services are lifted out, data is migrated and reconciled, and old modules are switched off one by one. Residents never face a single big cutover.

  2. The challenge

    Residents and businesses keep sending in the same documents.

    What we do

    Services connect to the registers that hold the data, so it is collected once, on a legal basis, and each lookup is written to a log.

  3. The challenge

    Phone lines and counters handle questions the website ought to answer.

    What we do

    A service assistant in Irish and English that answers only from your published rules and procedures and passes the conversation to staff as soon as it reaches its limits.

  4. The challenge

    Case officers spend hours reading, sorting and retyping what comes in.

    What we do

    Document intelligence sorts files and pulls out the fields, a person confirms anything the system is unsure of, and the case system gets structured data with a complete audit trail.

  5. The challenge

    AI pilots get stuck once legal and ethics teams look at them.

    What we do

    Review is planned from the discovery phase: risk classification, input for the data protection impact assessment and the fundamental rights impact assessment, logs, human oversight and the documentation transparency requires.

  6. The challenge

    Guidance sits in intranets, PDFs and the memory of colleagues.

    What we do

    Search across circulars, guidance and procedures that respects access rights and names the source of every answer, so public servants can check it before acting.

Key dates for digital public services in Ireland

These dates already drive architecture and procurement choices. Irish Acts and Statutory Instruments, and EU implementing acts, may bring dates of their own.

  1. In application

    Interoperable Europe Act: Regulation in force

    A framework for governing interoperability across borders and reusing solutions built by the public sector.

  2. In application

    NIS2: EU deadline for national NIS2 laws

    Ireland had not enacted its law by autumn 2026: the National Cyber Security Bill is still being drafted from its General Scheme, and S.I. No. 360 of 2018 applies in the meantime.

  3. In application

    Interoperable Europe Act: Interoperability assessment becomes mandatory

    Needed before a decision on a new or substantially changed trans-European digital public service.

  4. In application

    AI Act: Bans on prohibited AI practices apply

    Social scoring by public authorities is one of them. Duties on AI literacy start the same day.

  5. In application

    European Accessibility Act: Accessibility requirements in application

    For key products and services; in Ireland through S.I. No. 636 of 2023.

  6. In application

    Data Act: Data Act in application

    Covers requests for data by public bodies in exceptional need and the rules for switching cloud provider.

  7. In application

    AI Act: Transparency duties in application

    People have to be told when an AI system is dealing with them, and generated content has to be labelled.

  8. Position at 2 October 2026

  9. Upcoming

    eIDAS 2: EU Digital Identity Wallets on offer

    Every Member State provides at least one wallet, and public services that need online identification must accept it.

  10. Upcoming

    AI Act: Duties for high-risk AI in application

    For stand-alone high-risk uses such as access to public services and social welfare, following the 2026 amendment.

Rules and standards at a glance

The legal texts that most often end up in a public-service request for tender, explained plainly, with what each one changes for your programme.

Use this overview to prepare planning discussions; it is not legal advice, and Irish law can add to or differ from the EU texts. Dates checked on 2 October 2026.

EU AI ActScopeEU-wide

Rules for AI systems graded by risk. AI that decides on access to essential public services and social welfare, on migration, asylum and border control, or in justice and law enforcement is high-risk. In Ireland the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Act 2026 gives effect to the Act, with the AI Office of Ireland as central coordinating authority.

A public body that deploys a high-risk system has to carry out a fundamental rights impact assessment (Article 27), assign human oversight and keep logs. Following the 2026 amendment of the Act, these duties start on 2 December 2027.

What changes for your programme

In discovery we classify every use case, we build oversight and logging into the system, and we write the technical documentation your legal advisers need. They make the legal assessment; we supply the facts.

SourceRegulation (EU) 2024/1689, EUR-Lex (opens external site)

NIS2ScopeEU-wide

Central government is in scope, and each Member State can bring in regional and local administrations. The directive asks for risk management, supply-chain security and incident reporting in stages, the first being an early warning within 24 hours. As of autumn 2026 Ireland has not enacted its law: the General Scheme of the National Cyber Security Bill was published in August 2024, S.I. No. 360 of 2018 still applies, and the National Cyber Security Centre is the planned lead authority.

What changes for your programme

Security clauses will be part of every contract. We document our controls, report incidents through the agreed route and hand you the evidence your own duties call for, now and once the new Act is in force.

SourceDirective (EU) 2022/2555, EUR-Lex (opens external site)

eIDAS 2 and the EU Digital Identity WalletScopeEU-wide

By 24 December 2026 every Member State has to provide at least one EU Digital Identity Wallet. Public services that require electronic identification must then accept it, next to national schemes such as MyGovID. Ireland is also consulting on a Government Digital Wallet linked to MyGovID; the consultation proposes that public bodies accept it by the end of 2026.

What changes for your programme

Sign-in, sharing of attributes and electronic signatures all need to work with a wallet. We build identity integration so that adding a new kind of credential is a matter of configuration and not a rebuild.

SourceRegulation (EU) 2024/1183, EUR-Lex (opens external site)

Interoperable Europe ActScopeEU-wide

In force since 12 July 2024. From 12 January 2025 a public body must make an interoperability assessment before it decides on a new or substantially changed trans-European digital public service, and it is encouraged to share and reuse solutions, open source among them.

What changes for your programme

Together with you we prepare the input for the assessment, reuse building blocks that already exist and document the interfaces so other bodies can take up what you build.

SourceRegulation (EU) 2024/903, EUR-Lex (opens external site)

Single Digital Gateway and once-onlyScopeEU-wide

Since 12 December 2023 anyone using a key cross-border procedure can ask for evidence to travel directly between authorities over the Once-Only Technical System, so they no longer have to upload it.

What changes for your programme

The exchange of evidence needs consent, a preview for the user and a log. We build the once-only connection and the data exchange into the service flow.

SourceRegulation (EU) 2018/1724, EUR-Lex (opens external site)

Web Accessibility Directive and EN 301 549ScopeEU-wide

Websites and mobile apps of public bodies have to meet EN 301 549, the harmonised standard based on WCAG, and carry an accessibility statement with a way to give feedback. Ireland transposed the directive through S.I. No. 358 of 2020, in force since 23 September 2020, and the National Disability Authority monitors compliance.

What changes for your programme

We build to WCAG 2.2 AA, test with assistive technology and help you keep the accessibility statement up to date.

SourceDirective (EU) 2016/2102, EUR-Lex (opens external site)

European Accessibility ActScopeEU-wide

Since 28 June 2025 it covers key products and services such as banking, e-commerce, e-books and transport services; in Ireland through S.I. No. 636 of 2023, with the CCPC as one of the enforcing bodies. It binds economic operators rather than public bodies, but public tenders borrow its accessibility requirements, and services run together with private partners can fall within it.

What changes for your programme

Accessibility is now a duty along the whole supply chain. We write it into the acceptance criteria instead of leaving it to an audit at the end.

SourceDirective (EU) 2019/882, EUR-Lex (opens external site)

Data ActScopeEU-wide

In application since 12 September 2025. A public body may ask companies for data they hold when there is an exceptional need, and providers of data processing services have to make it possible to switch, with switching charges gone by January 2027.

What changes for your programme

Exit plans and data portability are part of the cloud architecture from the start, so a move to another provider is a planned piece of work and not an emergency.

SourceRegulation (EU) 2023/2854, EUR-Lex (opens external site)

Public procurement, competition by competition.

Irish public bodies buy through open, restricted and negotiated procedures, competitive dialogue and frameworks with mini-competitions, many of them run centrally by the Office of Government Procurement and advertised on eTenders. The rules come from Directive 2014/24/EU as transposed by S.I. No. 284 of 2016, and each request for tender has its own documents, terms and deadlines.

We play by those rules. We answer each requirement of the request for tender, name the people who will do the work, show how our prices are built and give the evaluation panel a delivery plan it can score. Depending on the lot, we bid on our own or as part of a consortium.

  1. Preliminary market consultation

    We explain what is technically feasible without steering the specification. Talking early lowers the risk of a tender that no supplier can deliver.

  2. Request for tender and clarifications

    We check the specification against the law, the standards and the systems you already run, and put questions only through the official clarification route.

  3. Tender response

    A structured submission covering architecture, plan, team, the security and accessibility approach, and an exit plan from day one.

  4. Award and mobilisation

    Once the standstill period ends: named people, onboarding to your security rules and an agreed first release.

  5. Delivery and exit

    Reporting on the contract indicators, a documented handover and the return of your data, so the next competition starts with a clean slate.

Control of data and security

Data location settled up front

Hosting regions, control of encryption keys and where support staff work are agreed with you before the build and recorded in the architecture. Data is hosted in the EU.

An exit plan from the start

Open standards, documented data models and infrastructure as code keep the cost of switching in plain view, as the Data Act intends.

Open source where it makes sense

We look first at reusable public components and open-source options, in line with the Interoperable Europe Act and the cloud-first principle of Connecting Government 2030.

Certified security management

FromNine holds ISO/IEC 27001 certification. Our controls, supplier management and incident handling run inside a certified information security management system.

Delivery that anticipates NIS2

Incident routes, vulnerability handling and supply-chain transparency are agreed in each contract, so you can meet your duties under S.I. No. 360 of 2018 today and the new Act when it comes.

Joined-up services and once-only

Illustrative example
Resident or businessMyGovID or EUDigital IdentityWalletService portalService assistantCase systemReview by a caseofficerLookup logOnce-Only TechnicalSystemData exchange layerAnother Member StatePersonal recordsCompany registerTax and socialwelfare data
The parts of a once-only service

Identity, the service front end and the case system run on a data exchange layer that reads from the registers holding the data.

Read the diagram as text

A resident or business logs in to a service portal with MyGovID or an EU Digital Identity Wallet. A service assistant answers questions and opens the correct form.

The portal hands the request to the case system, where a case officer reviews exceptions and makes the decisions.

The portal and the case system read the data they need through a data exchange layer. That layer collects data from the registers that own it, such as personal records, the company register and tax and social welfare data, and logs every lookup.

For procedures that cross borders, the exchange layer links to the Once-Only Technical System, which swaps evidence with authorities in other Member States.

  • Data from the source, not duplicates

    A service reads data from the register that owns it, instead of building up its own copy.

  • Standards before code

    The European Interoperability Framework and semantic standards shape the interfaces we design, and the Connecting Government 2030 principles of digital by default and secure by design shape the rest.

  • A legal basis and a log for every exchange

    Each exchange has a legal basis and a purpose, and leaves a log entry that residents and auditors can follow.

  • Ready for other Member States

    Procedures within the Single Digital Gateway link to the Once-Only Technical System through the national access point.

Accessibility is a legal duty

  • WCAG 2.2 AA as the minimum

    EN 301 549 rests on WCAG. Designing and testing to WCAG 2.2 AA means a service meets S.I. No. 358 of 2020 now and is ready for the next revision of the standard.

  • Checked by tools and by people

    Automatic checks in the delivery pipeline, manual audits with screen readers and keyboard only, and usability sessions with disabled people whenever you can set them up.

  • Plain language, in Irish and English

    Text written around what the reader needs to do, at the same standard in Irish and in English where the Official Languages Act applies to your body.

  • A statement that stays accurate

    As the service changes, we help you keep the accessibility statement and the feedback route correct.

See our accessibility statement

Digital identity

  • MyGovID today

    Login with MyGovID, the national digital identity for public services owned by the Department of Social Protection, and, where your users come from other countries, with their own national schemes.

  • Wallets next

    Login with the EU wallet, and with the Government Digital Wallet now proposed, added beside the schemes you already use, so residents can choose and the service does not split in two.

  • Minimal data, clear consent

    Ask only for the attributes the service needs, show residents what is being shared and keep a record of it.

  • Acting for someone else

    Applying on behalf of a business or another person, which most grant, payment and permit processes require.

Parts of government we build for

  • Social protection and employment

    Payments, contributions and employment supports, where decisions touch people’s income and each step has to be explained.

  • Local authorities

    Planning, housing and other resident services of county and city councils, and services they share with one another.

  • Justice and public safety

    Case and document flows with tight access control, retention rules and logs that prove the chain of custody.

  • Education and research

    Student administration, grant schemes and research data services.

  • Government departments and State agencies

    Shared platforms, registers and back-office systems that serve several departments.

Example use cases (illustrative)

Illustrative example

  1. Intake of grant and support applications

    Applications and their attachments are sorted and checked for gaps. A case officer looks at every flagged item before any decision.

    Document intelligence

  2. Resident assistant for a county council, in Irish and English

    Answers questions about council procedures in both official languages, shows the page each answer is based on and passes the conversation to staff when judgement is needed.

    Service assistance

  3. Guidance search for public servants

    Staff of a State agency find circulars, procedures and case law through one search. Results follow access rights, and each answer points to its source.

    Enterprise knowledge

  4. Planning and permit system replaced in stages

    An ageing permit system is swapped out one module at a time behind a stable API. Data is reconciled after each step, and the old system goes last.

    Legacy modernisation

  5. Handling Freedom of Information requests

    Each request is logged, the relevant records are found and proposed redactions are drafted. An official signs off every release.

    Document intelligence

Two flows from start to finish

How the parts work together day to day. Both are illustrative workflows, not client cases.

Resident service: from a question to a closed request

Illustrative workflow
  1. Step 01Sign in

    The resident logs in with MyGovID or an EU Digital Identity Wallet. The service asks only for the attributes it really needs.

  2. Step 02Ask or apply

    A service assistant replies in Irish or English from approved sources, or opens the correct online form.

  3. Step 03Prefill

    Data the State already holds is fetched once from the register that owns it, and the resident confirms it.

  4. Step 04Route with history

    The request reaches the right team together with its history, so nobody has to ask the same question again.

  5. Step 05Staff decide

    Human checkpoint. Officials deal with exceptions and anything that calls for judgement. The assistant never decides on entitlements or payments.

  6. Step 06Notify

    Progress and the decision appear in the resident’s online account, with a clear route to object or appeal.

Case handling: from an incoming file to a decision someone answers for

Illustrative workflow
  1. Step 01Receive

    Applications come in through the portal, by email or by post. Scanned letters go into the same queue.

  2. Step 02Sort and extract

    Each document is classified and its main fields are read, every field with a confidence score.

  3. Step 03Check for gaps

    Rules spot what is missing and prepare a request for further information.

  4. Step 04Officer review

    Human checkpoint. A case officer confirms the uncertain fields and makes the decision. Suggestions are clearly marked as suggestions.

  5. Step 05Record

    The decision, the reasons and the data relied on go into the case system and the audit log.

  6. Step 06Measure

    Every correction is added to the evaluation set, so quality is tracked from one release to the next.

Platforms we use in the public service

  • Salesforce

    Summit Partner

    Case management, contact centres for residents and businesses, and grant schemes, connected to back-office registers and to MyGovID.

  • SAP

    Gold Partner

    Finance, HR and procurement for departments and agencies, with SAP linked to case systems and data platforms while the core stays stable.

  • Odoo

    Gold Partner

    A practical back office for smaller State agencies and offices and for shared services between local authorities, with open-source licence options to weigh up.

The partner levels shown are FromNine’s own. Product names belong to their owners as trademarks.

Ireland

Irish public service, EU rulebook

Connecting Government 2030, the public service’s digital and ICT strategy under Harnessing Digital, sets three principles: digital by default, cloud-first and secure by design. The OGCIO in the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation leads it, and MyGovID is the identity residents already use.

Around that sits EU law. Ireland has its AI Act of 2026 and an AI Office, while NIS2 is still at the General Scheme stage of the National Cyber Security Bill. Accessibility follows S.I. No. 358 of 2020, the Official Languages Act adds Irish-language duties, and tenders run under S.I. No. 284 of 2016, with opportunities on eTenders and OGP frameworks.

Our architecture keeps these Irish rules in configuration and documentation instead of separate code bases, reuses what Interoperable Europe already offers, and plans content in Irish and English from the first release.

Questions we are often asked

What experience do you have with public bodies?

We have worked on 600+ projects for public bodies in EU Member States, including in Ireland, some completed and some still running. We name a public body only with its permission. References are shared within a tender competition, on the terms the contracting authority sets.

Can we engage you under a framework we already use?

Let us know the framework, lot or purchasing system, for example an OGP framework with a mini-competition. We will tell you whether and how we can take part, on our own or in a consortium.

How do you deal with the AI Act in a public service?

The use case is classified during discovery. If it is high-risk, for instance deciding who receives a social welfare payment, human oversight, logs and documentation are built into the system, and we prepare input for your fundamental rights impact assessment. In Ireland the AI Office of Ireland coordinates supervision under the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Act 2026.

Where will our data be hosted?

That is your decision. Data is hosted in the EU, and before the build we agree with you on hosting locations, who controls the encryption keys and where support is provided, with sovereign options when you need them. All of it is written into the architecture, in line with the cloud-first principle of Connecting Government 2030.

Do your services meet Irish accessibility law?

They do. We design and test to WCAG 2.2 AA, which covers the WCAG 2.1 AA level that public bodies meet through EN 301 549 under S.I. No. 358 of 2020, mix automatic and manual tests, and help you keep your accessibility statement current.

Can a service work in both Irish and English?

Yes. Public bodies have duties under the Official Languages Act, so we build interfaces, content, assistants and documentation that publish in Irish and English at the same standard. Our own teams work in English and in other European languages such as Dutch, French and German; the Irish-language content itself comes from your translators or approved sources.

Talk through your public service programme

Working on a request for tender, a modernisation or an AI service under the new Irish AI Act? Speak to a team that knows public procurement, accessibility law and services in more than one language.

Talk to us about your projectOur AI Act guide for public bodies