Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 408: To ask the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport the number of contracts held by her Department and its agencies with telecommunication providers; if she will provide details of these contracts including the name of the telecommunication provider and associated financial agreements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37309/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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MyDepartment has three office locations: the Departmental headquarters offices in Killarney, Co. Kerry and Kildare Street, Dublin 2 and the National Archives of Ireland, which is part of the Department, at Bishop Street, Dublin. In respect of the two Departmental headquarters offices, there are currently telecommunications contracts in effect with Eircom and Smart Telecom. The Eircom contract is for landline telephony and data network provision and services while the Smart Telecom contract is for data network provision and services.

My Department is currently assessing tenders submitted for the provision of landline telephony services under the National Framework for the Supply of Fixed Voice and Voice over IP Services plus Associated Products and Associated Services.

The Department's contracts with both Eircom and Smart Telecom in respect of data network provision and services were agreed in 2008 following the completion of a procurement process carried out in accordance with Public Procurement regulation and guidelines.

In 2010 to date, the Departmental headquarters have expended the following in respect of these contracts:

Eircom €88,902

Smart Telecom €32,699

In the case of the National Archives, a telecommunications contract is in effect with Eircom. To the end of September, 2010, €13,229 has been expended in respect of this contract. During 2010, the National Archives availed of the rates currently available under the National Framework for the Supply of Fixed Voice and Voice over IP Services plus Associated Products and Associated Services.

Both the Department headquarters and the National Archives have mobile telecommunications contracts in effect and I refer the Deputy to my recent reply on the 29th September 2010 to PQ Ref. No. 33646/10, which outlines the situation regarding these contracts.

It has not been possible in the time available to provide the information requested in relation to the agencies under the aegis of my Department but I am asking them to supply the details to the Deputy at an early date.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 409: To ask the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport the number of contracts held by her Department and its agencies with energy providers; if she will to provide details of these contracts including the name of the energy provider and associated financial agreements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37324/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has three office locations: the Departmental headquarters offices in Killarney, Co. Kerry and Kildare Street, Dublin 2 and the National Archives of Ireland, which is part of the Department, at Bishop Street. Dublin. Aside from a number of very small supplementary (i.e. solar-power) and backup energy provision systems, the Department headquarters has contracts in effect with Energia in respect of its electricity requirements and with Clearpower for its wood-pellet heating system.

The contract with Energia was agreed in May 2010 following completion of a procurement process carried out in accordance with Public Procurement regulation and guidelines. The amount payable is based on usage and since May the Department has expended €6,413 on its electricity costs.

The contract with Clearpower, which includes supply and servicing, was agreed by the Office of Public Works on behalf of the Department. To date in 2010 €7,321 has been expended on foot of this contract.

In the case of the Departmental offices in Kildare Street, the main tenant in the building is the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation which deals with contracts in relation to energy provision with my Department paying a percentage of the costs incurred.

In the case of the National Archives, energy costs are payable to ESB and Bord Gáis. The National Archives has standard contractual arrangements with these entities, and the amount payable is dependent on usage. In 2010, up to end of September, the following amounts have been paid:

ESB €57,983

Bord Gáis €30,367

The National Archives is investigating options for more economically advantageous energy costs in 2011. In tandem with this, the National Archives is implementing the Office of Public Works'"Optimizing Power @ Work" energy campaign which has already resulted in energy savings in 2010 and will continue to do so in 2011 and beyond.

It has not been possible in the time available to provide the information requested in relation to the agencies under the aegis of my Department but I am asking them to supply the details directly to the Deputy at an early date.