Information Technology

The Information Systems (IS) department manages all the Council’s Information Communications technology (ICT) hardware and software. This infrastructure spans multiple locations in the County and is utilised by close to 400 users. The department is responsible for the councils’ websites, social media channels and both internal and external web-based applications. The department is also responsible for the management of the councils’ data which ranges from file servers to a considerable number of databases. The section is constantly reviewing and refining its infrastructure as new challenges emerge.

The section played a central role in 2020 in ensuring the continued provision of Information Technology (I.T.) services to the council as Ireland grappled to deal with COVID-19 restrictions.

Solutions were speedily put in place by I.S. staff to enable users to work from home. Virtual meetings became the norm with I.T. support given to staff and councillors so that meetings could continue to take place. Security was also enhanced by ensuring staff use multi-factor authentication to access the council network remotely.

The I.S. section took on additional work including the setup of the Community Call Response Desk and the ability for local business to apply for the Business Restart Grants on www.sligococo.ie website. The I.S. section staff were key players in developing a new Wellbeing section on the council website which evolved into the Keep Well campaign in 2021 https://www.sligococo.ie/keepwell/. 2020 saw the council meetings move around different locations such as IT Sligo, Sligo Park Hotel and the Sligo Sports Complex, the I.S. section facilitated these meetings by sourcing a mobile microphone discussion system and providing I.T. support services.

2020 was a challenging year for the technical support team as it continued its commitment to delivering a high-quality technical support service to users. This team manages the Council’s Network, desktop and laptops, telephony systems, mobile phones, tablets, data logger devices and sims. The number of issues logged with the helpdesk rose significantly.

2020 saw a successful pilot of the Microsoft Office 365 environment with over 60 users upgraded and it is envisaged all staff will be setup on Office 365 by the end of 2021.

Council meetings took place in a number of locations in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions

Broadband Officer

The Broadband Officer continued to facilitate the rollout of the National Broadband Plan across the county. In 2020, work on delivering wireless broadband services continued under very difficult circumstances. Broadband Connection Points (BCPs) providing designated community centres and sports halls throughout the county with dedicated, high speed, internal and external Wi-Fi, are being installed and going live incrementally during 2021.

Under the National Broadband Plan, there are 14,800 premises listed in the state intervention area in Co. Sligo as not having access to high-speed broadband. It is planned that 2,513 of these premises will be available for connection to high-speed broadband during 2021. The first deployment area in Co. Sligo is from the regional exchange in Sligo town and builds outward from there (yellow area on map below). This area has been surveyed and designed and it is planned to go live in Q3 / Q4 of 2021. The build out to the other areas in county Sligo will follow.

A digital strategy was developed for the county and was adopted by the Council at the November 2020 Council meeting. The strategy was developed in collaboration with multiple stakeholders representing all sectors in the county including business, education, citizens, and communities. Work now turns to implementing the action plans set out in the strategy.

The Council aims to provide public Wi-Fi around the county and is active in rolling out the Wifi4EU scheme across communities. The Wifi4EU scheme is supported by funding from the EU and Department of Rural and Community Development, with running costs being funded by the council. This roll-out will deliver public Wi-Fi at 20 locations initially, with potential for further expansion.