160 Deputy Johnny Brady asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the amount spent by her Department and also by any bodies under her Department’s jurisdiction in each of the last three years on the provision of Internet applications (details supplied); the processes in place to ensure that such funds have been spent on good quality Internet applications, in terms of accessibility, security and data protection [39127/10]

My Department has spent the following amounts in connection with internet applications in the past 3 years:

2007 — €2,267,000;

2008 — €2,294,000;

2009 — €1,412,000 .

These internet applications include my Department's website, the Display Energy Certificate website and the esinet portal, which supports the electronic transfer of data between schools and my Department. Each of the applications supported by esinet and all major enhancements to these applications are subjected to extensive user acceptance testing and are often piloted in a select number of schools before going live. Furthermore, the Department has a contract in place with an independent security company which provides six monthly security health checks on all our internet applications. This company also offers advice on data protection issues for these applications.

With regard to the bodies under the aegis of my Department, the provision of internet applications is an operational matter for each individual body and the information is not collated centrally.