The Central Data Unit (CDU) was setup within the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) in 2021 to assist Local Government, Ireland by ensuring that key sectoral administrative data is collected, analysed, presented, stored, secured, and disseminated in a highly usable, consistent and efficient manner, adhering to multiple applicable data standards, policies and strategies including GDPR, Local Government Digital and ICT Strategy 2030, Open Data Strategy 2023-27.
Local authorities carry out up to 1,000 services for the public and hold huge amounts of valuable data that could help to improve services and inform policy across the sector.
The project aims to identify the verifiable and strategically important information that exists, and to develop a means of gathering that data so that it can be managed and analysed to:
- Facilitate evidence-informed decision making and policy
- Ensure open data relating to key sectoral issues is verified, available, and correctly interpreted
- Increase the sector’s capacity to capture and communicate the work being delivered by local authorities
- Combine with external data to develop more comprehensive reporting and understanding of how local authority work contributes to wider policy goals
- Support local authorities to more effectively manage resources using evidence
Key objectives of the unit include collating and analysing data from the 31 local authorities of Ireland in relation to key strategic issues identified by delegates of the County and City Management Association (CCMA), - the “representative voice” of the local government network. Ultimately, the CDU provides an evidence base for decision making at a national and local level.
The CDU has produced a range of analytical outputs including reports, dashboards, open data sets, data maps, etc., for use by CCMA Committees, Local Authorities, Government Departments, LGMA Business Units, citizens, agencies, and institutions.
To date the CDU has produced analytics - covering a range of research topics - for the following Committees:
- CCMA Housing
- CCMA Planning and Land Use
- CCMA Corporate and Emergency Planning
- CCMA Environment, Climate and Circular Economy
- LGMA Libraries Development
In addition, the CDU has also engaged with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH), and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) to deliver an IT solution and analytics assisting local authorities to introduce and operationalise the ‘Offer A Home‘ initiative which supports the accommodation of Beneficiaries of the Temporary Protection Directive, that was activated in March 2022 following the outbreak of war in Ukraine.