Vol. 576 No. 5
199 Mr. N. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason there was such a substantial increase in funding in 2000 compared with 1999 for a specific scheme (details supplied) within his Department; and the areas in which the increased funding was spent. [29865/03]
Expenditure for the IT consultancy scheme increased from €1,646,850 million in 1999 to €2,369,331 million in 2000.
This increase took place against the background of a review of the Department's IT, undertaken during 1999 as part of a broader systems review of the Department. As a result of this review a new IT strategy was developed which recommended major investment in IT. It made wide-ranging recommendations with regard to upgrading IT infrastructure and implementing major new corporate systems. An IT work programme was developed, as part of this strategy, which identified some 34 IT projects to be implemented over a four to five year period. The recommendations of the review and the new IT strategy were acted upon without delay and work on the implementation of the IT work programme commenced during 2000. This involved the outsourcing of some IT projects, which led to this increased expenditure.
Question No. 200 answered with Question No. 197.
