Consultancy Contracts.

Wednesday, 26 January 2005

Questions (1269, 1270)

Fergus O'Dowd

Question:

1335 Mr. O’Dowd asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will provide a comprehensive list of all meetings attended by a person (details supplied) since the beginning of that person’s contract with his Department; the date on which the meetings occurred; the persons who attended those meetings; the subject discussed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1177/05]

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Fergus O'Dowd

Question:

1336 Mr. O’Dowd asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government when the steering group to oversee the work of consultants in implementing a communications strategy for the national spatial strategy was set up; the dates it met; the dates on which a person (details supplied) attended; the names of those on the steering group; the person who appointed them; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1178/05]

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Written answers

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Mr. Roche)

I propose to take Question Nos. 1335 and 1336 together.

It would not be practicable to prepare a comprehensive list of all meetings attended by the person concerned over the period of some two and a half years for which she has been contracted to my Department. The Department's records indicate, however, that the person concerned attended, inter alia, the following meetings.

Race Against Waste awareness campaign.

Meeting	Date of Meeting	Details of Meeting
Assessment panel	7 April 200312 May 2003	The purpose was to evaluate tenders received for the awareness campaign. The membership of the panel comprised the followig departmental officials: K. Kelleher, L. Whelan, F. Ó Coigligh, B. Leech, D. Kearney, J. Kiernan (Department officials) as well as the person concerned.
Steering committee and communications subgroup	25 June 20033 July 20039 July 200316 July 200323 July 200322 August 200328 August 200310 September 200316 September 200324 September 20039 October 200321 October 20034 November 200314 November 200326 November 20033 December 200319 December 20037 January 200412 January 20043 March 200411 March 200419 May 20049 June 200421 September 200412 October 200419 October 200425 November 2004	The purpose was to oversee the implementation of the campaign. The membership of the committee was J. Kelleher, P. Macken, J. McCarthy, B. Leech, B. Linehan, D. Kearney, J. Kiernan, P. Morrissey, P. Fenton (Department officials) as well as the person concerned. The subgroup comprised some of the members of the committee including the person concerned. Meetings were also attended by different representatives of the consultant who was awarded the contract for the campaign.
Meeting with the Minister and an advisory group representative of thirteen organisations.	11 March 2004	The purpose of the meeting was to consult various stakeholders on the waste awareness campaign. J. McCarthy (Department official) also attended.

Electronic Voting awareness campaign.

Meeting	Date of Meeting	Details of Meeting
Meetings of the tender evaluation team for the awareness campaign	22 October 200328 October 2003	The membership of the team comprised P. Greene, M. Murphy, M. Ryan and D. Walsh (Department officials) as well as the person concerned.
Meetings with the successful tenderer to oversee the implementation of the awareness campaign	15 January 200429 January 200424 March 200413 April 2004	The meetings were attended by some members of the above team as well as representatives of the campaign consultant.

Review of local government financing.

Meeting	Date of Meeting	Details of Meeting
Meeting of the steering group	1 December 200315 January 20046 February 2004	The purpose of the steering group was to recommend a consultant to carry out the review. The membership of the group comprised T. Corcoran, J. Fitzgerald (Department officials), F. Foster (Department of Finance), J. Fitzgerald (Dublin city manager), D. O’ Donoghue (Galway city manager) as well as the person concerned.

National Inventory of Architectural Heritage awareness campaign.

Meeting	Date of Meeting	Details of Meeting
Discussion of a potential awareness campaign	12 February 2003	Meeting between the person concerned and D. Fadden (Department official).
Meeting of the tender assessment group	25 June 2003	The group, comprised B. Pocock, P. McNally, W. Cumming (Department officials) as well as the person concerned.
Meeting of the same group and representatives of the successful tenderer	3 July 2003	The purpose was to discuss the plan for the campaign.

Other.

Meeting	Date of Meeting	Details of Meeting
Meetings in Waterford	11 March 20037 May 200331 October 2003	To prepare arrangements for the informal meetings of EU Environment Ministers in 2004. N. Behan (Department official) also attended.
EU Environment Informal Council, Waterford	14-16 May 2004	Collaborated with Department staff in coordinating arrangements for Council.
Meeting with D. Murphy (Director Met Éireann)	22 December 2004	To advise on Met Éireann’s communication requirements.
Meeting with B. Linehan (Department official)	19 January 2005	Preliminary discussion to assess the scope of ENFO’s publications.

Meetings Abroad.

Meeting	Date of Meeting	Details of Meeting
Attendance at various international meetings as part of a delegation led by the Minister		Details are set out in reply to Questions Nos. 1335 and 1336 on today’s Order Paper.
Study tour to Holland in relation to waste	21 to 23 January 2004	The group comprised J. McCarthy, P. Macken, B. O’Neill, J. Burns (Department officials), local authority environmental awareness officers and journalists.
Informal meeting of EU Environment Ministers in Athens	2 to 4 May 2003	The person concerned accompanied Minister of State Deputy Gallagher and G. Tallon and N. Behan (Department officials).

The communications contract dated October 2000 for the national spatial strategy provided that a steering committee to oversee and manage the contract was to be established, composed of representatives of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government's spatial planning unit and the NDP/Structural Funds unit of the Department of Finance. The Department's then communications co-ordinator was an original member of the steering committee and gave this function in July 2002 to the person concerned.

The consultants were required to report to the steering committee as the project proceeded. The consultants were also required to work closely with the Department's spatial planning unit during all phases of the project. At the start of the consultancy it was planned that the steering committee would meet with the consultants on a fortnightly basis. In the period leading up to the publication of the national spatial strategy it was decided that the communications campaign should be intensified considerably. Additional work was put in hands on the presentation aspects of the strategy, media briefings, publicity and other briefing material. Many of the steering committee meetings were held at short notice and are not formally recorded on the Department's files. Specific records of committee meetings are set out in the following table.

Meeting	Date of meeting	Details of meeting
Steering Committee to oversee and manage the communications contract	2 November 200011 December 20008 January 200117 January 200129 January 20015 February 200121 February 20014 May 200125 July 20023 September 20021 October 20023 October 20026 November 2002	The steering committee was composed of representatives of the Department’s spatial planning unit, the Department’s communications coordinator (2000 to 2002), the Department’s communications consultant (July 2002 onwards) and the NDP/Structural Funds unit of the Department of Finance.
Workshop in relation to communications message planning.	14 November 2002	The workshop was in relation to the launch of the NSS.