New Standards for Data Sharing across the Irish Public Service – and Where to Start

On 14 November 2025, the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (DPER) published the Data Sharing Support Suite: a collection of guidance, templates and standards designed to help Public Service Bodies share data under the Data Sharing and Governance Act 2019 (DSGA).

The full announcement covers the policy context. In this post, we want to focus on two documents we contributed to: the Data Sharing Standards Framework and the Public Service API Standards and Guidelines. These are the practical foundations for how data sharing should actually work, covering the organisational, semantic and technical layers that sit alongside the legal process.

What the Support Suite Includes

The Suite brings together several documents, some new and some updated (available in gov.ie):

Data Sharing Standards Framework (New)

Public Service API Standards and Guidelines (New) – (logged in users)

Model Data Sharing Agreements (English & Irish)(Updated)

Model Accession Agreements (English & Irish) (New)

Data Sharing Agreement and Accession Agreement Guidance & Playbook (Updated)

The legal templates and playbooks guide PSBs through the formal process of establishing Data Sharing Agreements under the DSGA. What’s now been added is how to align organisations around a data-sharing initiative, how to agree on what the data means, and how to actually exchange it technically. That’s what the Framework and API Standards address.

 The Data Sharing Standards Framework

The Framework provides a structured approach to data sharing, built around four layers drawn from the European Interoperability Framework: Legal, Organisational, Semantic and Technical. Each layer has defined actions, roles and referenced standards. The Framework also sets out six underpinning principles: confidentiality, integrity, availability, transparency, security and accountability.

The value here is clarity. Previously, PSBs had to work out their own approaches to things like metadata standards, data definitions and technical specifications, which could lead to misalignment when two organisations came together to share. The Framework gives everyone a common reference point.

The Public Service API Standards and Guidelines

The API Standards document is a technical reference covering the full lifecycle of API development: design, naming conventions, versioning, security, error handling, performance and testing. It’s built on RESTful architecture and draws on best practices from the US, UK, Australia, Canada and the EU.

This matters because APIs are increasingly the mechanism through which data is shared between PSBs. Without common standards, every integration becomes a technical negotiation. With them, organisations can move faster and build on each other’s work.

How these fit together

The Data Sharing Standards Framework sets out what needs to be considered at each stage of a data-sharing initiative. The API Standards provide the how for the technical layer.

Together with the legal templates and playbooks, they form a complete reference for PSBs undertaking data sharing under the DSGA.

Where to start

The Support Suite provides a strong foundation for the legal side of data sharing. But even with the legal basis established, initiatives can stall without clarity on the practical questions:

Is there a specific use case driving the initiative, or is it still at the “we should explore sharing data” stage?

Who owns this internally, and do they have the time and authority to see it through?

Have you and your partners discussed what the data should look like? Definitions, formats and quality expectations can often differ.

Do you have the technical capability to build or consume APIs to the standard set out in the new guidelines?

Once the data is shared, who will be responsible for keeping it running?

These questions help identify where support might be needed across the organisational, semantic and technical layers, which is where we can help.

Where Derilinx can help

We contributed to the development of both the Data Sharing Standards Framework and the API Standards and Guidelines, drawing on our work with PSBs on data governance, metadata management, open data and interoperability.

The legal process has its own support structures. We can help PSBs with everything around it:

Organisational readiness — assessing capability, defining roles, aligning processes across the involved organisations.

Semantic alignment — cataloguing data holdings, agreeing definitions, establishing metadata standards

Technical implementation — designing and building APIs, integrating with existing systems, meeting the standards set out in the guidelines

Sustainability — putting in place the governance and operational practices to maintain data sharing over time.

The current OGP Technical Services Framework for Open Data and Data Management runs until January 2026, so there’s a window to get support in place via a straightforward process if you need it.

If you’re scoping a data-sharing initiative and want to work through the non-legal layers, get in touch via website or email.