Management at the state agency Pobal recently flagged a “principal risk” with performance issues of a legacy ICT platform behind the Government’s €1.2 billion early learning and childcare programmes, with serious customer, financial, and reputational damage risks identified. Pobal operates the system on behalf of the Department of Children and its Early Years Platform (EYP) holds a database of children, parents, and service providers in receipt of state-subsidised childcare.  This includes data on subsidy payments, social welfare payment details, and other sensitive data such as parents’ employment status, employer details, addresses, and PPS numbers. The platform essentially works as a…