Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 255: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the savings that have been made in her Department through the use of open source software packages and generic consumables; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39924/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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My Department has a small ICT Unit and staff concentrate on core technologies with single platforms for ease of operational and support reasons. In key areas such as web site and some database systems, where skill sets are available, considerable use is made of open source software. It is difficult to evaluate the savings made in deploying these products due to the variety of comparative technologies available on the market but I am confident they are more economical to deploy and maintain. In relation to consumables, it is intended to purchase via the National Procurement Service consumables tender as soon as their procurement framework exercise is finalised early in the new year. It is planned to exhaust all current stocks of consumables and any requirements in the interim will be made via a small draw down arrangement until the new framework is in place. My Department earlier this year has evaluated the concept of a managed print service and the use of generic consumables to achieve better value for money but has decided to approach the issue via the proposed framework agreement.