TG Statement on ITLD

Together Gibraltar notes with concern the recent statement by the GGCA that ITLD’s mandate is, once again, being usurped by ministerial interference.

The current administration has been in power for over a decade. Over that time, IT infrastructure and especially cybersecurity have become increasingly crucial to Gibraltar’s safety and success. Thus, it is frankly embarrassing that the government has totally neglected to invest in developing a robust team at ITLD who have the resources necessary to protect our infrastructure and support government services. Instead, they have chosen to starve this department of resources and then complain about its capabilities.

That a new post has been filled before it was even created also raises concerns about the government’s priorities. Together Gibraltar would ask the government why ITLD were not consulted on this role and why the Minister for Digital Services believes he has the sole expertise to plan a function as crucial as government cybersecurity.

That this decision is being made by government ministers at all represents a real failure of planning on behalf of the government. The civil service should be fully empowered with the expertise, resources, and authority necessary to make such decisions internally.

If Minister Isola truly believes that privatisation of such a crucial sector is the way forward, he should make the case for that. Instead, he seems intent to starve Gibraltar’s public services in the hopes that they can be auctioned off.

We thank the GGCA for raising concerns about funds spent on the eServices project. Given the time elapsed, the taxpayer funds exhausted and the importance of this function, we should expect Gibraltar to have an exceptional team of local IT professionals capable of delivering solutions. Instead, Gibraltarians still have to deal with antiquated government processes, while the government spends public money on third parties for a platform which is still not fit for purpose, a decade after it was announced.

Together Gibraltar are pleased that measures have been suspended in lieu of a consultation period with the GGCA. We hope that the government reverses course on this decision and invests the appropriate resources into training existing ITLD staff, and bringing in new talent where appropriate to ensure Gibraltar has the skills necessary to tackle IT and cybersecurity challenges going forward. See less

ENDS