Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 5 Mar 1997

Vol. 475 No. 8

Written Answers. - Departmental Reports.

Ivor Callely

Question:

238 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of reports or studies which have been commissioned by him since his appointment; the cost of each report in each case; whether the report has been made publicly available; and if not the reason therefor. [6114/97]

Bertie Ahern

Question:

239 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of consultants' reports commissioned by his Department since he took office; the number which have been completed; and the cost to date. [6129/97]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. Yates)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 238 and 239 together.

Twenty six reports or studies have been commissioned by my Department since my appointment of which 24 were undertaken by external consultants. Some 21 reports have been completed. The overall cost to date is £875,900. The following tabular statement gives the other details requested. It does not include assessments, reviews and analyses of issues which are an intrinsic part of the day-to-day work of the Department or the on-going work of representative expert groups such as the dairy beef and sheepmeat quota review groups.

	Title of Study/Review	Department/External Con- sultants	Cost
1.	Evaluation of the Compensatory Allowances Scheme in Ireland	Brendan Kearney and Associates	*£22,143
2.	Analysis of Actual Preparation Hours involved in Teagasc's Adult Training Programme	Colin McIver Associates Ltd.	*£11,827
3.	Mid-Term Review of the Operational Programme for Agriculture, Rural Development and Forestry, 1994-99	Fitzpatrick Associates	*£61,407
4.	Study of the Installation Aid for Young Farmers under the Operational Programme for Agriculture, Rural Development and Forestry	Analysis and Evaluation Unit of Department	Cost to be borne out of overall funding provided for the Analysis and Evaluation Unit under the Operational Programme for Agriculture, Rural Development and Forestry
5.	Study of the FIP (Horticulture) and the Horticulture and Potato Measure under the OPARDF	Analysis and Evaluation Unit of Department	Cost to be borne out of overall funding provided for the analysis and Evaluation Unit under the Operational Programme for Agriculture, Rural Development and Forestry
6.	Surveys of participants in the Schemes of Installation Aid for Young Farmers and in the Horticulture, Potato and Organic Farming Schemes under the Operational Programme for Agriculture, Rural Development and Forestry	Research and Evaluation Services	£33,819
7.	Professional Services provided for the Department's re- organisation exercise	Price Waterhouse	£40,817 of which £20,408 refunded by the Department of the Taoiseach
8.	Feasibility Study on setting up of Food Database	Justin Keogan	£2,000
9.	Updating of Compendium of Irish Economic and Agricultural Statistics	Fergal O'Brien	£1,092
10.	Training Needs analysis for Senior Management staff	KPMG	£33,400
11.	Plan for the Movement Permit and Plan for Headage project	Coopers & Lybrand Ltd.	£24,371
12.	Assessment of existing computerised accounting systems within the Department	Coopers & Lybrand Ltd.	£86,746
13.	Report to advise the Department in relation to the development of a Geographical Information System (G.I.S.) based on Land Parcel Identification system	Geosys, France	£120,000 (Est)
14.	Assist Department in Evaluation of Tenders for Accounts System	Coopers & Lybrand Ltd.	£42,350
15.	To provide (1) general advice on implementation of electronic mail and (2) a plan in consultation with the Departments staff for the migration to a new operating system for the Department's Wide Area Network	Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems	£16,500
16.	On going evaluation and mid-term review of the Leader II Programme	Brendan Kearney & Associates	£114,439 (for the first year)
17.	Independent Deboning Yield exercise	S.G.S. (UK) Ltd.	£26,366
18.	Study on the future organisation of cattle breeding in Ireland	Ernst & Young	£140,944
19.	Study into Meat Inspection Service	Ernst & Young	£75,000
20.	Review of Certain Computer Systems at a Meat Processing Plant	Craig Gardner/Price Waterhouse	£12,318
21.	Independent Survey of Intervention Beef at a Cold Store	S.G.S. (UK) Ltd.	£1,392
22.	External Evaluation of Measure 3(II) of the Food Sub- Programme—Institutional Research and Development	The CIRCA Group	£22,950 (+Vat Strand 1)
23.	Development of administrative procedures for the implementation of EU assisted afforestation and premium schemes	Sectoral Consultants Ltd.	£27,918
24.	Develop computer system for EU assisted afforestation and premium schemes	Mr. T. Perfect	£6,075
25.	Facilitation of Strategic Management Initiative (SMI)	Price Waterhouse	£59,661 of which £29,137 refunded by Department of the Taoiseach
26.	Future Options for CAP — Joint Study with A.C.C. and Farmers Journal	Brendan Kearney and Alan Matthews	£5,000 (Department's Contribution)

*Costs in these cases are met out of the Evaluation and Technical Assistance element of the Operational Programme for Agriculture, Rural Development and Forestry.

Note: Most of the reports refer to operational aspects of the Department's activities and are not published. Nos. 1, 8, 9, 25, and 26 are available from the Department.