Clare County Council’s spending on IT infrastructure jumped by nearly 50 percent last year.
More than 2.1 million euro was spent by the local authority on information technology in 2020 alone.
Documents received under the Freedom of Information Act show of the money spent by the Council on IT last year, around 20 percent of it – or over €450,000 – was spent on what’s described as ‘COVID response and remote working’.
€980,000 was spent on salaries and expenses, with more than €370,000 going towards local government management agency maintenance, such as the County Library.
The rest went towards network maintenance, systems development and licencing and stationery.
1.5 million was spent on IT in the Council between January and September of this year, though the local authority found itself the victims of a cyber attack back in March.
It compares to an overall spend of 1.1 million euro for the full year of 2016.
In a statement to Clare FM, the Council says the reason for the increase in costs can be attributed to the response to the pandemic, along with upgrading its financial management system, which a ‘significant element’ of costs were recouped from central government for.
The local authority says it anticipated costs associated with IT to ‘continue at a higher level going forward’.
Statement From Clare County Council
‘The increase in ICT expenditure in 2020 over previous years arose primarily in responding to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and enabling Clare County Council employees to work remotely and continue to deliver services during the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. In addition, part of the increase can be attributed to the continued expansion of DigiClare, the upgrade of the financial management system and other service integrations. Clare County Council successfully recouped a significant element of these costs from central government funding in supporting the impact of the pandemic.
It is anticipated ICT costs will continue at a higher level going forward. The recent HSE cyber-attack has highlighted the need for all government bodies to update computer systems, digital services and provide enhanced protection against cybercrime.’
