Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 460: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the savings that have been made in his Department through the use of open source software packages and generic consumables; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39916/10]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The Information Systems Division in my Department spent a total of €41,982 on consumables in 2009, and €28,855 to date in 2010. Purchases are made solely on the lowest price for a suitable product at any given time; brand is not a factor in product purchase. The volume of generic or branded consumables purchased is not recorded. An open source product is used within the Information Systems Division for monitoring the availability of networks and servers. An equivalent proprietary solution would cost approximately €10,000. My Department's overall approach is geared to using, and promoting the use of open source software where this is appropriate and cost effective. The open source community would generally agree that the general use of open source software in a corporate environment is only now becoming a realistic proposition. While the initial costs of open source software are very low, it does require a larger technical effort to support going forward with resultant cost implications.