Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 September 2019
149. Deputy Jack Chambers asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if his attention has been drawn to recent issues with the operation of the Payroll Shared Service Centre website Core portal; the nature of the issue; the reason it occurred; the steps being taken to address the issue and ensure it does not recur; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38790/19]
View answerI have been informed by the National Shared Services Office (NSSO), who are responsible for the Payroll Shared Services Centre, of recent issues with the payroll system and the Core online portal.
The NSSO have advised that there was a major power incident on Wednesday 28th August 2019 affecting the relevant Government data centre which hosts the Civil Service, and some Public Service, payroll databases. A number of items of key computing hardware were damaged beyond repair in the incident. As a result, the System Recovery plan was immediately activated and all databases were switched over to the System Recovery site in a different Government data centre.
These mitigating actions ensured that all payments have been processed on time since the incident occurred.
The root cause of the incident has been investigated and mitigating measures have been put in place to prevent a recurrence. Damaged hardware has been replaced and prepared for the return of payrolls back to normal.
The NSSO has also advised that they continue to regularly update staff, managers and other stakeholders via direct email. The payroll contact centre continues to be available to take any questions from customers, and updates are posted on the website daily since this incident occurred.
