5th National Data Analyst Network (NDAN) Meeting

11 June 2026

The fifth meeting of the National Data Analysts Network (NDAN) took place on 14th May 2026 as a fully in person event in An Lár, Revenue’s events room on O’Connell Street, Dublin

The meeting was chaired by Pamela Lafferty, Head of Division for the National Data Service, CSO. Frankie Kay, Assistant Director General for the National Data and Statistical Services, opened the event 

Item 1:

  • Local Property Tax Revaluation. Owen Joyce (D/Finance) and Gillian Walsh (DCDE) presented on their work modelling scenarios on the structure of Local Property Tax, outlining the methodology, analysis, evaluation and the impact on policy decision making.

Item 2:

  • Analysis of Prescriptions Reimbursed under the General Medical Services Scheme (GMS), 2018 to 2023. Tomás Kelly’s (CSO) presentation covers work done about the GMS scheme under the Primary Care Reimbursement Service. It analyses the population’s engagement with the GMS scheme and presents the key findings.

Item 3:

  • PCRS and Public Expenditure on Pharmaceutical Products. Joseph Wang’s (D/Health IGEES) presentation outlined how the Department of Health collaborated with stakeholders across multiple business areas to request, host, and analyse the full PCRS data transfer from 2016 to 2024.

Item 4:

  • Data Literacy Programme. Aileen Ferris (CSO) presented on work done since the  NDAN meeting in May 2025, where a workshop was run to discussed how to strengthen data literacy across the public sector.

Item 5:

  • CSO Data Strategy. Pamela Lafferty (CSO) gave a high-level overview of the CSO’s data strategy which was published at the start of the year.

Item 6:

  • Building a Data-Enabled Public Service: Challenges and Opportunities– Panel Discussion. Tara Davis (CSO) chaired a panel discuss with senior leaders from across the National Statistical System: Chris Ryan (D/Health), Jean Acheson (Revenue), Ken Moore (CSO), Patrick Moran (D/PER) and Paul Alexander (D/Education). The panel looked at how the civil and public service can use data to improve services and make better decisions in a fast-paced world.

Item 7:

  • AI at the CSO. Brendan O’Dowd (CSO) gave a presentation covered practical examples of how AI is used at the CSO, how use cases are approved, and components of the forthcoming CSO AI strategy

Item 8:

  • Workshop: Explore how AI can enhance insight, improve policy decisions, and strengthen public service outcomes. Attendees discussed questions about how AI was used in their organisation, opportunities and challenges for AI, and what steps the NDAN members could take to support AI implementation in the public sector.

The meeting highlighted innovative data initiatives and practical examples of collaboration and capacity-building, reinforcing the Network’s role in connecting analysts and facilitating the exchange of expertise across the system.

Looking ahead, preparations are underway for the next National Data Analysts Network (NDAN) and National Data Infrastructure (NDI) conferences. If you or your department would like to present on your data strategy, a project or piece of work, or tools and methods that may be of interest to the wider network, please get in touch.

To join the mailing list for NDAN or the NDI, please contact adc@cso.ie.

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