Gardaí are to be allocated up to 4,000 high-tech bluetooth mobile phone headsets allowing them to avail of "hands-free" communication when on duty, after Garda management invited companies to tender for the contract yesterday.
The tender to supply and deliver the headsets, which was posted on the Government's etenders.gov.ie website yesterday, envisages an initial purchase of 2,000, with the option to purchase an additional 2,000 by the end of 2007.
The headsets have been requested by gardaí following concerns about the health and safety implications of officers using their mobile phones to telephone in information, most commonly from their cars, to a new civilian-run Garda information services centre in Castlebar. This data will then be entered into the Pulse computer system.
A spokesman for the Garda Representative Association welcomed news of the tender, which he said would help to free officers from the "monotonous chore" of entering data into the Pulse system. It would also leave them freer to deal with subsequent cases that arise during their working day.
Another high-tech contract, this time for the incorporation of biometrics into Irish passports, has been awarded by the Department of Foreign Affairs to technology consultants Bearing Point, based in Adelaide Road, Dublin, the website confirms. Nineteen offers were received, with the award of the contract made last March.
A spokesman for the Department said it plans to begin issuing biometric passports before the October 2006 deadline set by the US authorities.
The passports contain a digitised image of the holder's face along with their personal details.
But contrary to some reports, he said the new passports would not include fingerprints.
The total cost of the project would be €8.8 million, he said. Existing Irish passports will continue to be accepted until they expire.
Meanwhile, Dublin City Council is seeking tenders for the "ongoing inspection and maintenance" of the 750-metre-long Liffey boardwalk.
"Prior to the maintenance contract commencing, an inspection will be carried out and all necessary remedial works to the boardwalks will be carried out by the successful tenderer," the website states. It does not say what this might involve.