asked the Minister for Justice if he will give details of the expenditure of £40,000 on the consultancy services in 1985; the name of the consultants employed; the number of consultants; the way in which they were recruited and the number of tenders received for this work.
Written Answers. - Consultancy Services.
158.
In 1985, expenditure on consultancy services was £39,100 for two projects one for the Garda Síochána and one for the prison service. £32,100 was spent on 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 in 1980 by the then Minister for Justice, with the sanction of the Minister of the Public Service. The selection was made by the Expert Advisory Committee which was appointed in 1978 and has advised successive Ministers for Justice on all matters related to this communications project.
The remaining £7,000 was paid to a research psychologist, who was engaged by the Department in November 1984 on a three-year contract to carry out a study of sex offenders in custody. This psychologist was already engaged in other work for the Department in 1984 and had been recruited through the Department of Labour's work experience programme. It is not the policy to give names of individuals employed as consultants.