Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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188. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the two mechanisms for aggregate purchase orders for laptops for schools under centralised bulk provisioning processes under way in his Department; if schools have received equipment through this process to date; the number and type of equipment received; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10647/20]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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To support schools in prioritising the continuity of teaching and learning during the period of school closure due to public health restrictions following the issue of €50m in ICT grant funding, my Department advised schools of the direct drawdown mechanisms for the purchase of laptops. Schools were informed that HEAnet would operate an aggregated order process on its Single Provider Framework with Dell, while Datapac would also do so through a Single Provider Framework with HP. Both of these Frameworks have been established from the OGP Framework of Providers of Laptops.

This was intended to enable laptop orders from schools to be prioritised, given current supply chain issues in the market. Schools are not obliged to use these mechanisms, they are intended to support those schools who determine laptops are required for their circumstances at this time.

These mechanisms are managed and operated by HEAnet and Datapac respectively, and as such, my Department does not have access to or responsibility for the data requested.