Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 February 2014
136. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he will indicate, in tabular form, the total expenditure by his Department on external consultancy advice services, including legal services, in 2011, 2012 and 2013; if this spend is in line with the overall value-for-money objective of his remit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10007/14]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, my Department was established on 2 June 2011. Accordingly, the following table lists the payments made to consultants and legal personnel from my Department's Administrative Budget since that date. It may be noted that contracts for the provision of services are not included. Value for money is an overriding consideration in relation to the engagement of consultancy and legal services.
|
Year |
Purpose of Payments |
Amount € |
|
2011 |
Consultancy |
40,637 |
|
2012 |
Legal Fees |
6,195 |
|
2012 |
Consultancy |
10,959 |
|
2013 |
Consultancy |
30,176 |
For completeness, I wish to bring to the Deputy's attention that from time to time my Department also commissions engineering or environmental experts to provide technical reports on specific issues as required. While the providers of these services are consultant engineers, environmental consultants or may describe themselves in other such terms, their work is not classified as "consultancy services and policy reviews" and is not funded from my Department's Administrative Budget.
Also my Department makes payments from time to time to the Chief State Solicitor's Office in respect of legal services that it provides.
