DONEGAL COUNCILLORS MUST have thought Christmas had come early today as they were all given a new Samsung Galaxy Tab 4.

All 37 councillors received one of the devices during today’s council meeting and they were also promised a new printer to go with it according to a report by Highland Radio’s Barry Whyte.

Cost

The new Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 costs between €290 – €350. The cost to the taxpayer for these new tablets is in the region of of €10,000 – €13,000, not including the cost of the new printers that councillors have yet to receive.

The tablet is believed to be encrypted so that council documents can be kept private. The tablets were given to councillors so they could access their emails while also trying to make the council paperless.

Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Leas Cathaoirleach Nicholas Crossan said that the tablets would certainly be worth it, stating that they will help them streamline their work, communicate with officials and constituents by email and allow for all the council agendas to be online rather than paper.

He defended the cost, saying, “over the next five years, they will certainly have earned their keep. It will be much handier for our council work”.

Crossan added that most people have laptops these days and that everything is technology based so it was understandable that the council wanted to streamline council business in this way. He said the matter was not raised or discussed in the council today, adding:

I think it is just a storm in a tea cup really.

What do you think? Should councillors be given tablet devices for work purposes?

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