The NOAC ‘Good Practice in Local Government’ seminar was planned to be held in Kilkenny Castle in April 2020 but was a casualty of the COVID lockdown. As a result, for it to proceed NOAC had to plan for its first ever virtual seminar. The event was organised in collaboration with the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) for 4 th of November 2020.

The initial challenge presented by the restrictions gave rise to an opportunity to reach to a wider audience and reduce the time of the seminar as no travel was involved. NOAC was fortunate to have Minister Darragh O’Brien to provide the opening address. It was also an opportunity for him and NOAC to publicly recognise local authorities and in particular their response to the COVID-19 pandemic with technological innovations, altering services and business processes and adapting how they provide public services.

While COVID was an important topic and issue on the day, the seminar also heard about the varied and interesting work that is taking place in local authorities throughout the country and it gave them an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to develop novel solutions to many complex problems. The seminar is an opportunity for local authorities to reflect, share and learn from each other in the Good Practices adopted to deliver better services or to respond to needs identified. Some of the good practice projects and innovations discussed at the seminar included: