Some of the members of the Irish parliament were announced recently that they will have the opportunity to change their old BlackBerry terminals with new iPad tablets thanks to a program initiated within the government. One of the chambers of the Irish parliament will allow members to purchase iPad tablets, recommending the Wi-Fi + 4G 32 GB model, following that from the summer the support for the current BlackBerry terminals will be cancelled, everything being done specifically for iDevices.
Although a tender to buy 300 iPads for Ireland's TDs and senators has been scrapped, the Oireachtas Commission has confirmed to Siliconrepublic.com that it has come up with a mechanism whereby TDs will buy their own iPads and be supported by its ICT unit. The commission has also confirmed that it will be dropping support for BlackBerry devices next summer. The recommended iPad model will be the 32GB iPad with Wi-Fi and cellular, which costs €739 on the Apple Store. That way, TDs and senators can say to the taxpayer that they paid for the device out of their own pockets. Politicians who buy the tablet computers under this mechanism will be provided with IT support for their devices by the Oireachtas ICT team.
Parliamentarians will be able to receive an iPad tablet to replace one of the 3 PCs received upon installation in office, so they will not be able to have more IT products than the law allows. Even so, it is important to remember that Blackberrys are out of use in the Irish Parliament, this being a new strong blow that the RIM company has received in recent months.
