Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 July 2014
803. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will provide, in tabular form, the use of external public relations firms employed by his Department since coming to office; the list of uses of each external public relations firm; the internal Department policy with regard to employing external groups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29127/14]
View answerThe Department uses its own press office for promotional and publicity purposes as a matter of course, and only uses external public relations consultants in exceptional cases for Department-led campaigns such as National Bike Week.
Reduction of costs across all activities continues to be a major focus of my Department. All expenditure without exception is only made in the context of the rigorous evaluation processes set out in the Public Spending Code to ensure that the expenditure is required and that best value options are selected.
The information requested by the Deputy regarding National Bike Week is published on my Department's website and can be found at the following link, http://www.dttas.ie/corporate/english/expenditure-external-services for the period to 31 December 2013. My Department is the process of updating these figures to include the early part of 2014.
