Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 30 Apr 1997

Vol. 478 No. 5

Written Answers. - Department Costs.

Ivor Callely

Question:

145 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications the total expenditure by his Department for each of the years 1995 and 1996 on consultants, ministerial programme managers, advisers, contract staff, non-Civil Service staff and public relations contracts; the cost of his phone and mobile phone bills and those of the Minister(s) of State; the cost of photography to his Department; the number of times ministerial air transport was used for this period; if he will give comparative figures for each of the years 1988 and 1989; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11583/97]

Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications (Mr. Dukes)

The information requested by the Deputy for the years 1995 and 1996 is set out hereunder. However, as the Department only came into being in 1993 I am not in a position to provide comparative data for 1988 and 1989.

	1995	1996
	£000	£000
Expenditure on ministerial programme managers, advisers, contract staff, non Civil Service staff.	206,842	222,561
Expenditure on ministerial public relations contracts	74,571(inc. of VAT)	57,912(inc. of VAT)
Expenditure on ministerial photography costs	5,387	7,728
Consultancy costs subhead A7	2,419,000	1,158,000
Expenditure on mobile phones
— Minister	6,905	8,824
— Minister of State	1,550	1,877

The ministerial air transport service was used 12 times in 1995 and ten times in 1996.

Ivor Callely

Question:

146 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Defence the total expenditure by his Department for each of the years 1995 and 1996 on consultants, ministerial programme managers, advisers, contract staff, non-Civil Service staff and public relations contracts; the cost of his phone and mobile phone bills and those of the Minister(s) of State; the cost of photography to his Department; the number of times ministerial air transport was used for this period; if he will give comparative figures for each of the years 1988 and 1989; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11572/97]

Minister for Defence (Mr. Barrett)

Total expenditure on consultants in the years 1988, 1989 and 1995 are as outlined in my reply to Deputy Dermot Ahern on 26 March 1996. The total expenditure in 1996 was £222,856. This sum, which includes £8,313.00 on public relations services, was spent mainly on purely departmental rather than ministerial matters. Consultants are used by the Department of Defence for several purposes e.g. management studies, construction projects, personnel and technical evaluations etc.

The cost of contract staff employed in the years 1988, 1995 and 1996 are as outlined to the Deputy to my reply to him dated 20 March 1997. The cost of such staff in 1989 was £17,925.

The total cost of phone services to me and the Minister of State was approximately £5,750 in 1995 and £8,800 in 1996. Comparative figures for 1988 and 1989 are not readily available.

The cost of photography was £213.65 in 1995 and £507.45 in 1996. Comparative figures are not readily available for 1988 and 1989.

Finally, the number of occasions where the ministerial air transport service was used by me in respect of either Defence or Marine business was 12 in 1995 and ten in 1996. It is not possible to determine comparative figures for 1988 and 1989 at such short notice.