Vol. 576 No. 6
238 Mr. S. Ryan asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the total amount of expenditure on consultancy by his Department in 2000, 2001 and 2002; the numbers of consultants engaged by his Department in those years; the steps which have been taken to reduce the expenditure on consultancy and the reliance on consultants by his Department in these years and for the future. [30258/03]
239 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the total amount of expenditure on consultancy by his Department in 2000, 2001 and 2002; the numbers of consultants engaged by his Department in those years; the steps which have been taken to reduce the expenditure on consultancy and the reliance on consultants by his Department in these years and for the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30275/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 238 and 239 together.
I inform the Deputy that my Department expended a total of €9,620,645.08 on consultants in 2000, involving 28 consultancy firms, €4,565,205.33 in 2001, involving 38 consultancy firms and €11,586,594.70 in 2002, involving 73 consultancy firms.
My Department only engages consultants where the engagement of consultants is required for a particular purpose, where some projects require specific skills which either are not available in-house or which the Department may not require in the longer term and where no other means of achieving that purpose is open to my Department. My Department proposes to leverage its capacity under the Sustaining Progress agreement to recruit directly to specific posts where it is more beneficial than engaging the services of external consultants.
