Vol. 542 No. 3
61 Mr. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she has in the past four and a half years appointed to any State or semi-State board or agency, any executive or employee of consultancy firms or public relations firms which have previously benefited from contracts issued by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24585/01]
Since June 1997, I have appointed two such people to the board of Forfás. In 1998, I appointed an employee of PricewaterhouseCoopers to the board. This company has carried out several consultancy contracts for the Department. Another board member of Forfás, who was appointed in 2001, has carried out some public relations work for the Competition Authority.
I wish to emphasise that these appointments were made on the basis of the experience of the individual and his or her potential contribution to the work of the board and were not related in any way to the work carried out in his or her consultancy-PR capacity.
