Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 261: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the cost of providing mobile telephony and PDA services for her in each of the years since 2002, broken down by handset purchase costs, rental and call costs, and other costs; the amount of money which was refunded by her in connection with personal use of these phones, PDAs and Blackberries in each year since 2002 in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14536/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Since my appointment as Minister for Social and Family Affairs in May 2008 I have incurred the following costs in relation to mobile voice and data services: Voice

Data

There were no handset costs as the devices were supplied as part of the normal on-going free hardware upgrade programme operated by the mobile phone companies. This equipment was supplied to assist me in discharging my responsibilities as Minister for Social and Family Affairs and consequently the amounts incurred in relation to personal use are minimal.

The overall cost of telephony is kept under constant review in the Department and it is planned to avail of more cost effective arrangements under the Centralized Mobile Phone Framework for Government Departments and Agencies in the near future.