Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am afraid I am not what is known as a techie and the Deputy's question forces me to stray into unfamiliar territory. The advice available to me is that public and private organisations throughout the world are facing exactly the same issue. The reason for the delay is that people liked the Windows XP operating system and many chose not to migrate to the updated system because they considered it to be less user-friendly. This was the case in my Department and, as I indicated, we updated our system more recently.

Supports are available and all agencies can buy into them to ensure security in the next 12 months, and they must have a plan to migrate to an equally secure system thereafter. This means they must update their systems in the next 12 months. We secured a good deal on the €3.8 million cost ceiling to be expended by Microsoft. The process is designed to ensure all agencies can buy into it.

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