A Government department spent nearly €34,000 on an innovation week for civil servants which included a LEGO building event costing more than €1,200.
The outdoor LEGO Serious Play Workshop was held at a pavilion at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin with up to 16 participants attending two different sessions.
The department said it was designed for creative thinking and problem-solving of real issues and challenges in real time.
A brochure for the event said it would take place in a “large, heated and ventilated tent” with each participant provided with their own LEGO for the event.
“This LEGO Serious Play workshop seeks to unleash the creative and playful side of public servants to solve our most pressing problems,” said a registration form.
The sessions were hosted by How Might We, who were paid €1,230 of the €33,926 total bill that was incurred by the department.
It was one of more than a dozen events run as part of the Department of Public Expenditure’s Innovation Week last November.
The programme was hit by Covid-19 restrictions with one of its signature events held remotely except for speakers, presenters, and core staff.
A department submission said the “marquee event”, at the Mansion House, would have to be filmed and made available to stream. It added: “It has been agreed with speakers and panellists that, in the event there is a need to restrict attendance at the event, the Mansion House would be used as a studio for an online audience.”
There was one silver cloud to moving online though with other costs for photography and hospitality “largely eliminated”, according to recently released records.
Other events that took place as part of the programme were the annual launch of the Public Service Innovation Fund by Minister Michael McGrath.
A detailed log of expenditure shows that €16,435 was paid to MHL Event Management for their work on the programme of events. A further €5,904 was paid to Personally Speaking Ltd, with around €3,000 shared between UCD and the Trinity Centre for Digital Business for their involvement
A spokeswoman for the Department of Public Expenditure said: “Value for money has been sought at all times by the Department in producing Innovation Week.
“Many of the events during the week were run at little or no cost to the exchequer... In instances where costs had to be incurred, public service procurement procedures were followed.”
