Departmental Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 September 2010

Wednesday, 29 September 2010

Ceisteanna (419)

Brian Hayes

Ceist:

508 Deputy Brian Hayes asked the Minister for Finance the amount his Department spent in each of the last three years and in the first six months of this year on mobile telephone bills; the number of staff within the Department who have mobile telephones paid by the Department; the mobile telephone operator that has the contract for supplying this service; the tender, if any, that applies to the service being provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33639/10]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Finance (Deputy Brian Lenihan)

The amount spent by my Department on mobile phone bills in the last three years and in the first six months of 2010 is set out in the following table. There are currently 148 mobile phones and mobile devices provided for the use of staff of my Department.

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.

Year	Amount Paid on mobile phone bills
	€
2007	93,634
2008	84,954
2009	57,499
2010 (to end June)	27,949