Vol. 435 No. 10
104 Dr. Upton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of parliamentary questions for oral and written answer, respectively, tabled to his Department since the formation of the present Government; and the total cost of dealing with these questions.
In the period since the Government came into office on 12 January of this year, a total of 696 parliamentary questions have been tabled to the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs. Of these, 337 were for oral answers and 269 for written answers.
As regards the cost involved, the Deputy will appreciate that the costs of researching and answering individual parliamentary questions can vary considerably, depending on the nature and extent of the information sought. A precise response to the Deputy's question would involve detailed costing of each of the questions dealt with in the period in question.
I would however refer the Deputy to a reply given by the Minister for Finance, Mr. Bertie Ahern, TD, to a question by Deputy James McDaid on 13 February 1992 on the average cost of answering a parliamentary question. The Minister on that occasion indicated that an extensive survey of Government Departments undertaken in 1982 had revealed that the average cost of answering a parliamentary question was about £40. Based on the general level of inflation since 1982, it is calculated that the equivalent cost now would be about £65.
