Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 2 Jul 2003

Vol. 570 No. 3

Written Answers. - Cross-Border Agencies.

Fergus O'Dowd

Question:

267 Mr. O'Dowd asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs further to Parliamentary Question No. 421 of 24 June 2003 regarding the total amount of ?378,327 expended by Fóras na Gaeilge since its inception, under each of the subheadings in the response (details supplied), the precise details relating to consultancy services that were employed in any part of this expenditure; the manner in which consultants were appointed, including details of any tendering systems employed; the selection procedures applied to select consultancy services to advise upon any part of this expenditure; the manner in which successful consultants were advised of their appointment; the full amounts paid, or payable to date, on these consultancy services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19060/03]

Fergus O'Dowd

Question:

268 Mr. O'Dowd asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if he will provide a breakdown of the total amounts allocated to any cross-Border agencies under the aegis of his Department since their inception; the precise details relating to consultancy services that were employed by these agencies since their inception; the manner in which consultants were appointed, including details of tendering systems employed; the manner in which successful consultants were advised of their appointment; the full amounts paid, or payable to date, on consultancy services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19091/03]

Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (Éamon Ó Cuív)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 267 and 268 together.

Waterways Ireland and An Foras Teanga, which comprises two agencies, namely, Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster Scots Agency are the two North-South implementation bodies under the aegis of my Department, which were established in accordance with the British-Irish Agreement Act 1999. As North-South implementation bodies, they are jointly funded by my Department and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure in the North.

Annual outturns in relation to allocations made by my Department and its predecessor to Waterways Ireland since its inception up to 2002 and the Revised Estimates figure for 2003 are set out as follows.

2000	2001	2002	2003
€000	€000	€000	€000
€13,680	€20,707	€25,684	€30,494

Comparable figures for An Foras Teanga are as follows:

2000	2001	2002	2003
€000	€000	€000	€000
€7,576	€12,890	€13,883	€12,416

With regard to An Foras Teanga, the figures included in the table above can be further broken down as follows:

	Foras na Gaeilge	Ulster-Scots Agency
2000:	€ 7,460,911	€115,616
2001:	€12,492,031	€398,197
2002:	€13,400,000	€482,975
2003:	€11,889,000**	€527,000**

**based on amount included in 2003 Revised Estimates Volume

Further details of the North-South funding for the bodies are available in the relevant agency statements contained in the 2003 Revised Estimates Volume.

The Deputy will appreciate that the appointment of consultants by the bodies is a day to day operational matter for which the chief executive officers are accountable to the Houses of the Oireachtas and the Northern Ireland Assembly or the United Kingdom Parliament, as appropriate. However, my Department has been informed by the chief executives of the bodies that consultancy contracts are awarded in accordance, as appropriate, with the procurement procedures of the Northern Ireland procurement service and the national and EU procurement guidelines issued by the Department of Finance.

With regard to the specific details sought by the Deputy in relation to consultancy services and expenditure by the bodies on such services, I have asked the chief executive officers of the bodies to provide the appropriate information directly to the Deputy.