Vol. 574 No. 1
260 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the amount his Department spent in 2002 on IT software licences; the amount of that budget which was spent on products of a company (details supplied); if his Department uses Linux or similar open source software; and if it has a policy position with regard to the promotion and use of such open source software, in the interests of cost savings or the development of a more transparent software industry. [26353/03]
In 2002, the Department of Foreign Affairs spent €700,000 on software licences of which €417,000 was spent on products of the company in question. While the Department does not use Linux, it does use open source software on part of its infrastructure and shares some cross-departmental services which use similar software.
The Department does not have a policy position with regard to the promotion and use of open source software. The Department procures software for new systems through competitive tendering procedures, seeking value for money proposals from the market. In this way potential system providers have the opportunity to propose open source solutions where they believe they are appropriate and the Department evaluates these proposals when received.
