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TDs and Senators will be supplied with their own tablets under an Oireachtas initiative - but few use the ones already made available to them. Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland

iForgot: TDs rarely use tablet computers that Leinster House already provides

There are already tablet computers available for TDs to use in the Dáil – but they’ve only been used 25 times since the election.

IRELAND’S TDS will soon be provided with their own individual tablet computers to be used for work activity – even though they rarely use the facilities that Leinster House already provides for them.

TheJournal.ie has learned that tablet-style devices, bought and paid for by the Oireachtas, have been available for TDs to use for six years – but that interest among the current crop of TDs in using them is minimal.

Oireachtas records obtained exclusively by this website show only seven of the 20 Toshiba devices as having been borrowed for use by members since the current Dáil was elected in February 2011.

Furthermore, the records – which run from 2006, when the tablets were bought, until May of this year – show that the devices have only been used on 25 occasions by the 167 members of the 31st Dáil, and on only two occasions since last August.

The records, released under Freedom of Information legislation, also indicate that two of the devices have only ever used once – by any TD – since they were purchased six years ago.

A spokesman for the Oireachtas confirmed that 25 tablet-style devices had been purchased in 2006 – with 20 provided for the use of members, while the other five were retained by the ICT units for support and backup purposes.

The 20 devices provided for use by members were purchased a cost of €38,782.50, inclusive of VAT and the price of docking stations to charge them.

A comprehensive log of Oireachtas assets also obtained by TheJournal.ie, however, lists only 22 of the devices – suggesting that three of the units have been disposed of in the meantime.

Though it is possible that the devices could be considered obsolete, the fact that they are used so infrequently – just over 250 times in all, an average of 13 times each, since they were first acquired – means their performance is unlikely to have deteriorated in the meantime.

Fine Gael TD for Carlow-Kilkenny, John Paul Phelan, said it was “remarkable how few times these existing devices have been used” – though he admitted he was “not surprised, as I’ve never actually seen one”.

‘Cost-neutral process’

Earlier this week the Oireachtas confirmed its intention to issue a tender seeking suppliers for tablet devices for each member of the Dáil and Seanad.

The Oireachtas plans for its new tablets would have 3G functionality, with the ability to share a member’s mobile phone data package. The cheapest model of Apple’s iPad with 3G capability costs €599.

Alternative cheaper tablets, however, could potentially be sourced for less than half this price – helping to keep down the cost of buying devices for the 224 members of the Oireachtas who don’t already have them supplied.

Fine Gael senator Martin Conway, who is partially sighted, already has an iPad supplied for him; the Seanad chairman Paddy Burke is also provided with an iPad in order to aid Conway’s use of his device.

A Leinster House spokesman said, however, that Oireachtas would aim for the new purchases to be cost neutral, as the use of tablets would mean a reduction in the Oireachtas’s printing costs over the following three years.

“Additionally, the tablets will form part of a general shift to electronic communication between TDs and Senators and their constituents and the general public,” the spokesman said, saying it could ultimately save €1m through eliminating or reducing its printing costs.

Members will also be required to provide their own 3G SIM cards for the devices if they use to use them on a mobile basis, though each device will already have WiFi capability so that they can be used in wireless areas.

Modern parliament

The plan to increase the use of tablet devices has been bill as “another step in modernising our national parliament”, by being able to provide members with electronic copies of bills or enabling them to check facts online during debates.

The new tablets are being considered a direct replacement for the 20 tablets already provided. A spokesman said the devices would remain the property of the Oireachtas, and merely be loaned to members for the completion of their duties.

The spokesman added that members would be offered training for use how to use the devices, and would be expected to take this train – or to confirm that they were already able to use them – before the tablets would be handed over.

Phelan said he believed the proposal to give tablets to every member should be reconsidered.

“Members clearly like the existing system, tablet use hasn’t been huge and – if it’s necessary – I think we should just buy our own,” he said last night.

“Many people are struggling to pay their bills and make ends meet right now and I think it would leave a very bitter taste in the mouth to see 226 Oireachtas members getting iPads.”

Tablet devices are preferred for use by Leinster House authorities to traditional laptops because the absence of keyboards means they are not noisy to type on.

iLawmakers: TDs and Senators to get tablet devices from Oireachtas

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57 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute james Goodyear
    Favourite james Goodyear
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    Oct 10th 2015, 9:32 AM

    Women don’t make good comediennes.

    63
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lester Jeffcoat
    Favourite Lester Jeffcoat
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    Oct 10th 2015, 9:50 AM

    Says the over-thinking potato.

    43
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    Mute Mjhint
    Favourite Mjhint
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:01 AM

    No actually Christopher Hitchens said it & done an article in Vanity Fair about the fact that evolution may have made men funny as they have to be for the purpose of mating whereas women don’t require the same tactic. After several rebuttals by women including several successful female comedians it appears they only managed to confirm his hypothesis.

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    Mute Aoife Barry
    Favourite Aoife Barry
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:13 AM

    James, you’re a gas man. Laughing my head off here at your witty joke!

    28
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    Mute Beachmaster
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:26 AM

    Oh now!

    5
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    Mute little jim
    Favourite little jim
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:48 AM

    Boobies are not light entertainment, they have no need for cheap funbag jokes.

    10
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    Mute Gavin Corrigan
    Favourite Gavin Corrigan
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    Oct 10th 2015, 9:34 PM

    Similar to drivers, good women comedians are a minority

    4
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    Mute catkins407
    Favourite catkins407
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    Oct 10th 2015, 9:36 AM

    Definitely” over thinking girl”. It’s a lot better than me. I struggle very much to read people and social situations so I end up being ” what inappropriate fecking thing did I say now ” woman. Lol

    34
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    Mute Aoife Barry
    Favourite Aoife Barry
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:24 AM

    Glad I’m not alone in that C! I think we all have situations where we overthink – and it can be such a pain. Often it doesn’t do anything positive for us either.

    15
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    Mute little jim
    Favourite little jim
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    Oct 10th 2015, 10:45 AM

    Is overtalking a thing?

    10
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    Mute Ronan Stokes
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    Oct 10th 2015, 11:14 AM

    Jo Brand is a brilliant comedian, doesn’t take any crap and knows how to deliver a good story. Similar dead pan style Jack Dee. Im not a fan of Sue Perkins style as I think its very one dimensional, for me it’s more of a “look how clever and witty I am”, as opposed to delivering something funny about life. Her style seems very approval seeking.

    14
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    Mute Ruairi O'Hagan
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    Oct 10th 2015, 11:34 AM

    Great stuff Aoife! Looking forward to the next part!

    15
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    Mute Aoife Barry
    Favourite Aoife Barry
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    Oct 10th 2015, 11:41 AM

    Thanks so much R! :D

    10
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    Mute dj
    Favourite dj
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    Oct 10th 2015, 9:43 AM

    Go on,tell us a joke.

    13
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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Oct 11th 2015, 5:10 PM

    Enda and Joan are leaders of their parties in a government together, how’s that dj lol.

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    Mute Chauncey Gardiner
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    Oct 10th 2015, 12:23 PM

    Fair play to you Aoife! It takes courage to step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself.

    12
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    Mute Richard Cheney
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    Oct 10th 2015, 1:06 PM

    Jim Jefferies,Doug Stanhope,George Carlin,Bill Hicks – all highly recommended

    7
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    Mute Uncle Monty
    Favourite Uncle Monty
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    Oct 10th 2015, 5:12 PM

    Oh yes, I’ll add Louis CK.if you don’t mind. Doug Stanhope talking about the death of his mother is worth a watch…

    4
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