andMr. O'Kennedy asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will give details of the expenditure of £25,000 on consultancy services in 1984; the number of people employed on this work; and how these people were recruited.
Written Answers. - Consultancy Services.
666.
The only expenditure on such services this year has been a sum of £7,891 in respect of a consultant in public relations and communications who was engaged from January to mid-November at a rate of £7,200 per annum (plus VAT) and expenses.
667.
andMr. O'Kennedy asked the Minister for Justice if he will give details of the expenditure of £32,000 on consultancy services in 1984; the number of people employed on this work; and how these people were recruited.
668.
andMr. O'Kennedy asked the Minister for Justice the reason an increase of 25 per cent is being estimated for consultancy services in his Department for 1985; and how the additional £8,000 will be spent.
Limerick East): I propose to take Questions Nos. 667 and 668 together.
The £32,000 provided in 1984 is for the salary and travelling and subsistence expenses of a consultant who is employed under contract on a full time basis on design and planning work related to the national communications network being provided for the Garda Síochána.
The consultant was appointed by the Minister for Justice, with the sanction of the Minister for the Public Service, on the advice of the Expert Advisory Committee which has advised successive Ministers for Justice on all matters related to this communications project.
Of the £40,000 provided in 1985, £33,000 is for the continued employment of the consultant for the Garda communications project and £7,000 is for the employment of a psychologist on a consultancy basis to carry out a study of sex offenders in prisons and places of detention.