Munster Technological University cyberattack response cost €3.5m, PAC told
The cost of a
cyberattack
on a
university
, a 'high-risk' data breach at an education and training board, and instances of noncompliance with the spending rules have been highlighted by the State's spending watchdog.
Comptroller and Auditor General
(C&AG) Seamus McCarthy on Thursday updated the Dáil
Public Accounts Committee
(PAC) on more than 100 financial statements of State bodies, including several from the education and health sectors, most of which related to 2023.
The committee was told that the response to a 2023 cyberattack on Munster Technological University 'resulted in direct costs of €3.5 million".
Mr McCarthy also drew TDs' attention to 'a high-risk data breach' at the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board in March 2023. He said he understood the breach was reported to the Data Protection Commissioner.
READ MORE
Separately, he flagged the impact of a delay in the purchase of a property for €6.5 million by Louth and Meath Education and Training Board, 'where the funds are being held in a non-interest-bearing account since September 2023'.
He said he understood 'those funds are still in a non-interest-bearing account' and 'the transaction hasn't been completed'.
[
How can money and time be saved in the cost of tendering for public contracts?
Opens in new window
]
Responding to a question from Fine Gael TD Joe Neville on the matter, Mr McCarthy said he would not estimate how much could have been lost in terms of interest on the €6.5 million, but that 'the potential loss of value to the State is significant'.
The CA&G routinely highlights instances of non-compliant procurement where the sums exceed €500,000 at a body under his remit. Non-compliant procurement can involve purchases that do not go through competitive tender processes, in some cases due to exceptional circumstances or time constraints.
Mr McCarthy said there was €4.4 million in non-compliant procurement by University College Dublin (UCD) in 12 months over 2022 and 2023.
He told the committee that UCD set out how this expenditure related to 33 suppliers, adding: 'I suspect it's [the €4.4 million] made up of a considerable list of relatively smaller amounts.'
Later, Mr McCarthy told the committee that while St James's Hospital reported that 86 per cent of its €256 million in procurement was compliant, this 'would imply that an estimated €35.4 million" was non-complaint.
He also highlighted how procurement noncompliance at Beaumont Hospital was an estimated €18.5 million.
The C&AG said that non-compliant procurement has been a focus of interest of the PAC in the past and 'I think good progress has been made in bringing down both the number and value of non-compliant procurement'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
15 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Ireland's jaw-jaw approach is ineffectual in a war-war world
Taoiseach Micheál Martin furrowed his brow and gave his best concerned priest look to the phalanx of cameras and microphones facing him as he entered the summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday . 'The people of Europe find it incomprehensible that Europe does not seem to be in a position to [put] pressure on Israel and leverage on Israel to stop this war in Gaza ,' he told reporters. The EU needs to 'support the Palestinians and put pressure on Israel' to stop the 'continuing slaughter of children and innocent civilians', he said. Ireland 'would be seeking some mechanisms to ensure that this war stops and that humanitarian aid gets into Gaza', Martin added. READ MORE Martin seemed genuinely exasperated at the EU's inability to agree a stronger position on Gaza and the blockade that has caused a humanitarian crisis in the enclave. (L-R) Michael Martin with Spain's foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares and Norway's foreign minister Espen Barth Eide join hands on the recognition of Palestinian statehood in Brussels in 2024. Photograph: Olivier Matthys/European Pressphoto Agency Ireland and several other EU countries want to take some action against Israel, such as suspending the free-trade agreement, in a bid to pressure the Israeli government of Binyamin Netanyahu to cease attacks and allow sufficient humanitarian aid into Gaza. But Israel's supporters in the EU won't let that happen. [ Situation in Gaza is 'abhorrent and unbearable', Ursula von der Leyen says Opens in new window ] Later, inside the summit venue, EU leaders would continue the wrangling about Israel's trade agreement that had tied officials up in knots for days before the summit. As expected the conclusions spoke about the 'dire' humanitarian situation in Gaza; but no further action was agreed. The truth, as Martin surely knew on his way in, was that nothing the EU said or did was going to make much difference to the people of Gaza. It's not just that the EU is unable to find a common position, though that is noteworthy in itself. Rather, it's that the whole way that international relations are conducted is changing. An age in which the soft power of diplomacy, international law and cultural clout mattered is giving way to the hard reality that military might – and the will to use it – is what matters. The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign holding a March to the US Embassy in Dublin to voice Irish opposition to US President Trump's plan for Alan Betson/The Irish Times The most consequential thing to happen this week was not the EU's painful deliberations about what it should or shouldn't say about Gaza. It was when seven US Air Force B-2 stealth bombers dropped 14 'bunker-buster' bombs, each weighing more than 13.5 tonnes, on Iran's nuclear facilities. This is the world that Donald Trump is remaking. The voice of the EU, and the voice of Ireland, is becoming harder to hear in it. Barely a hundred miles away, 24 hours before the EU leaders sat down together, the leaders of the world's most important military alliance were accommodating themselves to this new reality. After years of allowing their military strength and capacity to wither, Nato countries are embarking on the biggest build-up of forces that Europe has seen since before the second World War. [ Ireland backs €150bn defence plan as EU moves to rearm Opens in new window ] It is prompted by two things: the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the US president's unwillingness to continue American security guarantees to Europe unless Europe pays more for its own defence. So on Wednesday, Nato leaders agreed to push annual spending on defence of 5 per cent of national income by 2035 – a collectively gargantuan sum that will mean most countries will more than double their defence budgets. What this will mean on the ground is not yet clear. But Nato chief Mark Rutte said it would amount to a five-fold increase in the alliance's air defences and would also add thousands more tanks and armoured vehicles to its arsenals. The EU has got to take on aspects of hard power. Some form of genuinely collective defence ... including a European army of a quarter of a million troops, mainly on the eastern borders — John O'Brennan All this will be paid for with money that could otherwise be spent on other things: public services, welfare, productivity-enhancing infrastructure, tax cuts. And politicians would prefer to be spending on those things; they are, after all, more popular with voters. But they are facing a changed world. It is a world to which the EU – and by extension Ireland – seem unsuited. We are more jaw-jaw than war-war, but the tide is firmly in the other direction. 'You could argue that we are seeing the complete breakdown of the rules-based international order that has been there since 1945,' says John O'Brennan, professor of European politics at Maynooth University. 'The EU was very comfortable with that world. In fact, for a long time, the world was becoming more like the EU – more co-operation, more agreement between countries, an emphasis on trade bringing countries together. Now that's in retreat. The US and China want a world dominated by great powers.' How does the EU respond to this? 'The EU has got to take on aspects of hard power,' says O'Brennan. 'Some form of genuinely collective defence ... including a European army of a quarter of a million troops, mainly on the eastern borders.' He stresses that this is likely to be on an opt-in basis, and Ireland will not or could not be forced to join. But he thinks it is evitable; a changed world makes it so. From one perspective, the EU's weakness when it comes to hard power has always been there. The union was, says the former diplomat Rory Montgomery – who served, among other posts, as Ireland's ambassador to the EU – 'built for legislating and making budgets'. The bloc's double standards on Ukraine and Gaza have destroyed its credibility — Aidan Regan On foreign policy, he says, the bloc's clout, despite recent reforms and initiatives, is 'not remotely on a par with its economic strength'. That weakness, he agrees, is much more glaring now. For Ireland, says Montgomery, our foreign policy 'has never really wanted or had to take account of the realities of hard power – what our President says reflects how many people feel. But, like it or not, it's a reality.' 'We talk about our closeness to the US. In some ways it's true. But what is the main vector of US engagement with Europe? It's Nato.' UCD professor of political economy Aidan Regan says that we are at a 'transformative point in history.' 'It's power politics now,' he says. For Regan, however, the EU is at fault for not using its soft power to work against Trump's transformation of the world. For example, he says, the EU's position on Gaza, where it has declined to use the power it has on trade by suspending ties with Israel, is 'shameful'. The bloc's 'double standards' on Ukraine and Gaza, he says, have destroyed its credibility. As a result, the idea of the EU as a champion of liberal values and the rules-based world order now faces a 'legitimacy crisis'. 'The EU is the author of its own weakening,' says Regan. Doesn't that mean that Ireland's voice in the world is also diminished? Not so, he says. 'I actually think that Ireland's credibility has increased,' Regan says, because of the country's outspoken position in support of the Palestinians. He references, approvingly, Martin's obvious frustration with the EU's position on Gaza in Brussels. 'In North Africa, in the global south, Ireland's position has been noticed and people appreciate it. These are the countries that will matter in the future. There is great disappointment about the EU. But Ireland's credibility has increased.' O'Brennan and several others who spoke privately in Brussels and Dublin this week have a less optimistic assessment of the future. 'We're going into terrain that is going to be uncomfortable for Ireland,' he says. 'We should start thinking about that now.'
Irish Times
15 minutes ago
- Irish Times
‘It's a bit of a shift for the land of free speech': US visa applicants switch social media profiles to public
While waiting to cross the road to join the queue for a visa appointment at the US Embassy in Dublin on Friday, Anna reluctantly turned her Instagram account to public mode, making it free for all to see. She had earlier unfollowed every vaguely Palestine-related account she could think of for fear of it being used to deny her a visa to enter the US. Anna, who is due to start studying at a university on the US's east coast in September, was reluctant to share any more personal details. The concern was that she could potentially face push back from US officials for voicing her opinions on the Trump administration's tightening of immigration restrictions. READ MORE In a statement on Monday, the embassy said students from Ireland, and all foreign countries, seeking US educational and exchange visas would be required to make their social media profiles public to allow officials to review their online activity. The US state department is committed to 'upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process', it said, adding that ' a US visa is a privilege, not a right '. The approach, part of a crackdown by the Trump administration targeting would-be anti-Semitism, was criticised by the Taoiseach and Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn, formerly the Union of Students in Ireland. Pro-Palestinian supporters hold signs during demonstrations last year at The City College Of New York as police cracked down on protest camps. Photograph:Anna said it feels as if 'I have to go back on some of my morals and values' in order to meet immigration requirements despite Israel's ongoing bombardment and blockade of Gaza. She is not alone. J1 visa applications were down 25 per cent this year as some reconsidered their travel plans in accordance with their political views or activity. Anna and three other Irish applicants have been accepted to study at the same university, with all of them wary of sharing their anxieties about going stateside online. 'We're trying not to text about it,' she said. 'We're meeting up in person to talk about it. I don't know, it's so hard to know what's going to happen but we're just trying to avoid writing anything down.' Standing at the back of the line waiting for her appointment outside the US embassy in Ballsbridge, Dublin, Anna said 'yesterday I was really doubting if I even want to go'. 'My parents are telling me to take this opportunity but I'm just still doubting if I want to go,' she added. Garry Kerr is less apprehensive, but still recognises the uncertainty that looms over his trans-Atlantic trip. 'It's completely out of my hands,' he said of whether or not his application would approved by US immigration officials. When applying for an embassy appointment, he said he was asked to list all of his social media accounts. 'At the bottom of the page it says 'do you feel like you want to include something else that isn't listed here?',' he said. 'It really makes you think: 'Am I going to be caught in a corner here?'.' He added: 'I gave it away no bother, but afterwards I didn't feel great about it, to be honest, because it's your privacy at the end of the day. It's a bit of a shift for 'the land of free speech', but you have to go with it.' Kerr is hoping to to go to New York for two months, having secured a job at a summer camp. A part-time photographer, he said he did not wipe any content from his social media accounts, but was worried about one photograph which had a Palestinian flag in the background of a wider shot from a football match in Co Sligo. 'I was really stressed about that for a long time. I couldn't sleep for a while actually just thinking about it,' he said. Kerr opted not to delete the post in the end. 'I love the photo too much,' he added.
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
What's stopping us converting Dublin's O'Connell St into a residential neighbourhood?
It's not bad people who destroy cities, it's bad incentives. Bear this economic rule in mind when digesting the State's welcome initiative to save Dublin city , which was unveiled this week. 'Saving the city' might sound dramatic, but without significant remedial action, Dublin as an attractive, lived-in and innovative capital is over. We know that parts of the city are falling down, blighted by dereliction, vacancy and a general feeling of decay. The capital city of one of the richest countries in the world looks so dilapidated because it is not profitable to build homes there. If we change the incentive structure to make it profitable, improvements will follow. Great cities die without care – as many Americans know. Cities are built from the bottom up, not top-down. Unless citizens are given an opportunity to participate in regeneration, big government initiatives will fail when initial investment is not supported by ongoing incremental spending. From now on, it must be cheaper and more profitable to build, renovate and restore in the city than anywhere else in the country. This means using the tax system to create incentives in specific areas and even specific streets. Once the incentive – and this means the price – is right, builders will respond and invest enthusiastically. The Dublin City Taskforce has unveiled a blueprint to rejuvenate the capital's centre , calling for €750 million to €1 billion in new investment and identifying 'Ten Big Moves' to restore safety, vibrancy and liveability in the capital. While these proposals are all urgently needed, the real prize is to get investment money flowing into the capital on a daily basis. READ MORE The source of this investment should be the €150 billion of ordinary Irish people's savings that is sitting on deposit in the banking system, doing nothing. In the same way as living creatures require a constant flow of blood pumped by the heart, cities need a constant flow of money, incentivised by constant profitable opportunity. The domestic banking system could be the source of this investment. [ Dublin is fifth most expensive capital in Europe for living costs Opens in new window ] The traditional role of the banking system is to recycle savings of those who don't want to spend and make that money available to those who want to invest. Unfortunately, the Irish banking system acts more like a safe-deposit box in which savings are parked and not used profitably in the economy, despite the average of only 0.13 per cent interest earned. A special savings vehicle targeted at refurbishing old buildings with a tax break would liberate 10s of millions of euro into the centre of the city. Any successful redevelopment of Dublin city must incorporate a tax scheme to coax that money out of the deposits and into private residential building. The best example of reinforcing tax programmes were the urban renewal efforts of the 1990s, where huge swathes of derelict Dublin were rebuilt, and thousands of apartments were constructed in the city. It was tax-efficient to buy and live in these properties, which benefited from generous tax breaks for mortgage-holders, which made it a no-brainer to live in the city as opposed to the suburbs. Temple Bar was a good if uneven example of the success of such directed tax schemes. The new plan for the city, which proposes a special purpose vehicle – a fancy term for an independent State body – looks to be based on a similar tax structure, which is promising. Overall, this Government initiative is positive, but to make it work effectively and to tie it in with an ongoing financing requirement from the private sector, there must be a little more financial and fiscal creativity. As well as encouraging people to move into the city, it is essential to dissuade owners from hoarding or allowing buildings to become derelict Once it makes financial sense to live in the city, people will do so. People – not police – make a city safe. People police their own streets. Empty streets are dangerous streets, lively streets are safe streets, and the more people who live in an area, the more they look after their own patch. This is called having a stake in the place, and residents have a greater stake than passersby. Of course we need more gardaí on the streets, but the real game-changer is locals turning a street into a neighbourhood. For example, there are officially no residents on O'Connell Street, not one. Yet over the shops is ample space for living. What is stopping builders from converting O'Connell Street into a residential street? Incentives again. Make it tax-efficient to refurbish and tax-efficient to buy these flats, and people will come. [ Ruby Eastwood: Why would anyone choose to live in a city as ridiculous as Dublin? Opens in new window ] I've personal experience. In the early 1990s, on an average salary (IR£16,000 a year), I bought a flat on Parliament Street, in a building that was the first residential owner-occupier initiative on that street in more than 100 years. The small first-time developer was incentivised by tax breaks to buy the derelict building, and that made the refurbishment feasible. He built three flats above the ground-floor shop front. We were the only residents on Parliament Street, which was otherwise bleak and dilapidated. There were no shops or restaurants, and the roofs of many of these beautiful buildings were falling in. Lots of people thought it was mad to buy in the city, but it was much cheaper than renting in the suburbs. As a young owner, my monthly mortgage was dramatically reduced by a significant tax break. In the following few years we were followed by many more residents, and the same incentives allowed young people to buy and encouraged many young developers to take a risk and imagine a residential future over the shop for old, unloved buildings. It worked, and today Parliament Street, soon to be pedestrianised , is a wonderful place to live. Why not copy and paste this model in hundreds of city streets? As well as encouraging people to move into the city, it is essential to dissuade owners from hoarding or allowing buildings to become derelict. Again, incentives pave the way. Dereliction and vacant sites are the results of choices made by owners. It is time to put a draconian price on those choices. Urban policy should penalise bad behaviour such as presiding over dereliction, and reward good behaviour such as refurbishing old buildings. It's not that difficult, is it? We should start with vacant buildings. Recent figures from An Post's data company GeoDirectory estimate that 14,500 residential and commercial properties lie vacant across Dublin – 4,000 of which are in the city centre. There has been a marked deterioration since last year, and things are getting worse. The majority (63 per cent) of these properties have been unoccupied for one to two years, with a minority of about 23 per cent idle for more than four years. Between the canals, there are 4,082 vacant buildings. Half of them are commercial, roughly a third residential and the remainder mixed-use. The greatest concentration is in Dublin 2, home to 41 per cent of these vacant buildings, the vast majority (75 per cent) of which are commercial. D1's Victorian commercial districts (Parnell, Talbot, Capel and Dorset streets) account for more than half (610) of the vacant flats above commercial units. This column has suggested an amnesty for people who might own these properties but don't have the money or the legal clearance to refurbish them. The State could force them to sell by offering them a chance to avoid hefty penalties if they sell within a year. If not, tax them at source on other income and put the property on the market. The resulting glut of properties would force prices down, allowing responsible new owners who intend to build to buy at a bargain price. In no time the city would be transformed. We've done it before. Incentives work. Let's do it again.
