Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 April 2012
188 Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide a breakdown of the amount paid by his Department to mobile telephone companies for the past five years; the name of the companies used; the criteria used in deciding which mobile telephone company to use; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18888/12]
View answerSince the establishment of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, in July 2011, both my Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform operate a shared service for the provision of mobile telephony service. The reply to the Deputy's question therefore also covers the answer as required by the Deputy in PQ reference number 18893/12. The amount spent on mobile phone bills in the last five years is set out in the table below:
|
Year |
Amount paid on mobile phone bills |
|
2007 |
€93,634 |
|
2008 |
€84,954 |
|
2009 |
€90,791 |
|
2010 |
€81,134 |
|
2011 |
€96,594 |
Following an EU procurement exercise conducted by my Department, a mobile phone framework agreement was established to provide non-commercial public sector bodies with a simple way to procure mobile voice and data services at competitive rates from a list of qualified vendors. This framework commenced in February 2008. My Department ran a competition under the framework for its own mobile voice and data services in May 2008 and re-tendered the service again in March 2010. O2 was selected as the most economically advantageous response on both occasions.
