Burton to spend close to €1m on tablet computers

The cash-strapped Department of Social Protection is splashing out on more than 1,000 hand-held tablet computers for staff despite fears about looming budget cuts.

The spend on the tablets is expected to cost close to €1m at a time when there are warnings about cuts to welfare supports for the vulnerable.

Social Protection Minister Joan Burton is facing a battle at Cabinet level to reduce the expected savings in her department next year by half, down to a maximum of €200m.

Her department wants the tablet computers to be delivered in two lots for an “increasingly mobile workforce” to oversee welfare services “anywhere and anytime”, an advertisement says. Bids for the order must be submitted by the end of next month, just weeks before the October budget.

It says officials in the department now operate from 200 sites nationwide with other agencies, including the HSE.

A bulk order of mini tablet computers will be delivered for the department followed by a larger delivery of more than 1,000 standard tablet computers under a second order, it is added.

Ms Burton’s department has been called on to justify the spend on the tablets when ordinary citizens are facing cuts to their supports.

Sinn Féin’s social protection spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh said Ms Burton never mentioned that her department were buying the large order of tablet computers when she appeared before the Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection in July.

“This seems exorbitant given the cuts people are facing. There’s no justification. Most staff work at desks and can get upgrades,” said the Dublin South Central TD.

Independent Kerry South TD Tom Fleming asked why department staff needed the state-of-the-art computers.

“This seems very exorbitant in the current climate, especially when considering what victims of austerity are facing,” said Mr Fleming. “It’s a big demand on the capital funding for her department.”

The recently posted tender for the delivery of the 1,100 computers says they must have a minimum of 64GB in memory space, have Microsoft 8 Windows, operate on wireless as well as on mobile phone networks, have video capability, a four-hour battery life, and a 10-inch screen.

Staff will be trained on- site on how to use the tablet and maintenance of the computers will also be factored into the contract.

Top-of-the-range tablet computers currently retail online for between €800 and nearly €900, depending on their size and technical requirements.

Servicing of the machines over a number of years and tuition for agency staff would also add to the costs.