Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 April 2012
160 Deputy Jonathan O’Brien asked the Taoiseach if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Office of the Chief State Solicitor spent €540,795.78 on telephones during 2009, 2010 and 2011; if he views this cost as excessive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19764/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra161 Deputy Jonathan O’Brien asked the Taoiseach the number of telephones that were purchased by the Office of the Chief State’s Solicitor in the years 2009, 2010 and 2011; the number of staff who were allocated these phones; if each staff member has their mobile phone bill paid by the Office of the Chief State Solicitor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19765/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 160 and 161 together.
The figure for telephones quoted by the Deputy includes expenditure on landline calls, mobile calls and data lines. Data lines are used to connect the three buildings occupied by the Office, and to provide a connection to the Attorney General's Office and high speed connections to the government network. These connections are duplicated to allow for business to continue in the event of line failure or other loss of connectivity. Of the total of €540,795 quoted, some €168,000 is attributable to data lines over the three years.
Some €240,000 is attributable to landline use over the three years giving an average spend of €80,000 per year. Based on a staff of approximately 220, this shows an average spend of €364 per staff member per year.
€132,000 was spent on mobile phones over the three years giving an average spend of €44,000 per year. The average spend per mobile phone user over the three year period was €404 per annum.
All staff have access to a landline telephone extension from the Office switchboard.
Senior management and legal staff who attend court or are regularly out of the Office on business have been allocated mobile phones. Some staff are allocated mobile phones on a temporary basis while on call or working on specific cases. As a rule the Office avails of offers of free mobile phones from the contracted supplier. Specific phones have been bought for five Officers within the last two years at a cost of approximately €1,500.
The Office mobile phone contract has an ‘all in' price for calls and text to Irish numbers. The Office has a policy whereby personal usage outside this price is recouped from staff.
The Office considers that it achieves value for money with its telecommunications services.
162 Deputy Jonathan O’Brien asked the Taoiseach if he will provide details of companies that provide external IT services to the Office of the Chief State’s Solicitor. [19766/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraFor security reasons the Office does not disclose the names of the companies which provide IT Services to it. However services have been provided in the following areas:
Installation and configuration of new equipment;
Configuration of IT security applications;
Configuration and amendment of Financial Management System.
163 Deputy Jonathan O’Brien asked the Taoiseach the reason telephonist services are outsourced by the Office of the Chief State’s Solicitor. [19767/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe telephonist also acts as a receptionist. The Office carries out a significant amount of its business over the telephone and regularly receives legal documents at the front desk. It needs to have its telephonist/receptionist service available over normal business hours including lunchtimes.
The matter of providing receptionist/telephonist services from within internal resources is considered from time to time, most recently last year. Following review it has become apparent that there would be little or no savings to be made, particularly as staff would have to be taken from core duties of assisting with the legal work of the Office. Given the current financial situation and the moratorium on recruitment and promotions it would not be possible to recruit extra staff to carry out this function.
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform recently asked all Departments and Offices to review non-core work with a view to using external services where possible. This example of where the Office has already been outsourcing non-core work has been reported to the Department.
164 Deputy Jonathan O’Brien asked the Taoiseach if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Office of the Chief State’s Solicitor spent €423,474 on furniture in the years 2009, 2010 and 2011; if he views this cost as excessive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19768/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraOver the last three years the Office has refurbished accommodation in its main building, which is occupied by 180 staff. New furniture was provided as part this refurbishment. The building was last refurbished in 1997 and there has been little change in the layout since. New furniture to accommodate revised working arrangements has been provided where necessary and to satisfy accessibility and health and safety requirements. The Office has used suppliers based on contracts put in place by the OPW. The Office considers that value for money has been achieved throughout the refurbishment process. On the basis of 180 staff the average cost per employee over the three year period is €784.
