Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 19 Dec 1996

Vol. 473 No. 3

Written Answers. - Departmental Staff.

Ivor Callely

Question:

267 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Defence the persons appointed by him or by the Minister(s) of State at his Department as programme managers, advisers, assistants or back-up staff either in his Department or in constituency offices; the annualised remuneration paid to these staff; the names of individuals, groups or companies which have undertaken or have been approved to undertake full-time, part-time or casual consultancies, reviews, examinations or analyses or any public relations service on his behalf or on behalf of the Minister(s) of State at his Department; the actual and estimated cost for 1997 in this regard; the persons, companies, consultants or otherwise he or the Minister(s) of State at his Department have appointed to carry out work on behalf of semi-State bodies under the aegis of his Department; the reviews, consultancies or reports which he or the Minister(s) of State at his Department have commissioned or are due to commission; and the full costs in respect of all of these matters to his Department. [25108/96]

Minister for Defence (Mr. Barrett)

The following contract staff are employed by me. The annual salary in each case is shown in brackets: Mr. Conor Barry, programme manager (£50,483); Ms Angela O'Donnell, special adviser (£26,908); Ms Deirdre McDevitt, personal assistant (£17,256); Mr. Tim Ryan, personal secretary (£12,746).

The salary costs are shared equally between the Departments of Defence and the Marine, reflecting my dual ministerial roles.

The consultants engaged by the Department since I took office and the cost of the services provided are listed as follows:

Consultants	Cost
Aer Rianta	£2,500.00
O'Shea Business Consultants Ltd.	£89,942.32
Vision Computing Ltd.	£21,640.00 (funded jointly with Dept. of the Marine)
PARC Aviation	£126,310.00
Price Waterhouse	£8,292.13(funded jointly with Dept. of Taoiseach/Finance)
HAY-MSL	£30,310.50(funded jointly with Dept. of Taoiseach/Finance)

It is not possible at this stage to give a firm indication of the consultancy services which will be availed of in 1997.

With regard to public relations services, the firm of Henegan, Public Relations Consultants, have been engaged to provide services to the Departments of Defence and the Marine. The total cost to the Department of Defence to date is £3,563.02. Young Communications were also engaged in 1996 at a cost of £546.80. Furthermore, the firm of Brindley Advertising Ltd. has been engaged from time to time to develop awareness of the "Towards 2000" Initiative in the Civil Defence. The costs involved were £2,420 in 1995 and £4,204 in 1996. The estimated cost of public relations services to the Department in 1997 is £6,500.

I have made two appointments to State boards which come under the aegis of the Department as follows: Mr. Patrick Hogan, Director, Coiste an Asgard; Mr. Martin E. Marren, Chairman, Army Pensions Board.