CITY TRIBUNE
City Council builds defence to cyberattack
City Hall has moved to allay fears that it is vulnerable to a cyberattack.
Galway City Council’s new Head of IT Elaine Naughton assured city councillors that the local authority’s cyber security was robust and modern.
Cyber security was one of three main pillars of the Council’s new Digital Strategy for Galway City – it will focus on ensuring security of the Council’s IT systems, data protection and privacy of citizens who interact with the local authority.
Ms Naughton said that a breach of cyber security in another local authority can be isolated so that it won’t impact on Galway City Council. And she gave a comprehensive outline of the measures in place to protect the Council’s IT systems.
A number of elected members questioned the adequacy of cyber security at City Hall after two separate recent cyberattacks paralysed the HSE nationally and in Galway, and caused havoc in NUI Galway.
Mayor of Galway, Colette Connolly (Ind) said she was the victim of impersonation online – people purporting to be her had emailed her, she said.
Councillor Declan McDonnell (Ind) said cyber security was crucial for any digital strategy and he hoped the Council had invested enough in it.
“Right across Europe, everyone is under pressure from the Russians etcetera,” he said.
He subsequently withdrew the comment about Russia when Mayor Connolly said, “I don’t think you can make comments about an entire nation”.
Councillor Terry O’Flaherty asked whether back-up systems were in place if the IT system at City Hall was hacked into.
Councillor Niall McNelis (Lab) had also sought assurances that the Council had adequate staffing and resources for cyber security and other aspects of the digital plan.
Ms Naughton confirmed the Council was rolling-out Wi-Fi to facilitate free internet access at most public spaces in the city as part of the strategy.
A full list would be issued to elected members, she said, but included places such as the tennis courts in Roscam, playground in Doughiska, the Promenade in Salthill, Terryland Castle and Miller’s Lane.
Another part of the strategy, she said, was a commitment that Galway City Council would become paperless by 2025.
The strategy calls for a move to digitise all aspects of the planning process. It also said that the Council “can monitor and reduce the amount of paper it uses to become paperless by 2025” and other organisations “can be encouraged to do likewise”.
Councillor John Connolly (FF) was concerned about this proposal however, and said it might worsen the digital divide that already exists and reduce access to a certain cohort who are not computer savvy.
“I much prefer to read something in hard format than in digital on a screen,” he said.
Chief Executive Brendan McGrath said that “it can never be and will never be” a truly paperless Council.
“We will never be fully paperless. There will always be a need for hard copies of documents such as the City Development Plan,” he said.
Ms Naughton said that it was acceptable to print off documents in order to read them but that it was not good practice, for example, to print off emails and to leave them lying around on your desk for six months.
Councillor Niall Murphy (Green) suggested digital early warning systems that could alert people through mobile phones about real-time flooding threats or weather events.
Councillor Eddie Hoare (FG) said that digital technology should be used to allow people to pay for parking using their smart phones. Using technology to alert disabled drivers of all available disabled parking spaces in the city, was another positive use of digital that should be looked at, he said.
The plan was adopted by Councillors and Ms Naughton agreed to give an update on its progress in six to twelve months.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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