Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 February 2015
494. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide, in tabular form, for the years 2007 to 2010 the total photography costs in his Department, including a list of which photographers were booked, the photographers used and a breakdown of costs associated with each occasion that a photographer was used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4494/15]
View answerThe cost of photography in my Department from 2007 to 2010 is as set out in the following table. The total costs include all official photography charged to the Department over this period. As the Deputy will see from the table, there was a higher-than-average spend in 2008. This was the result of an increase in the number of State and official events, such as visits by the President of Estonia, the President of the European Commission and a State visit by the leader of the Czech Republic. In September 2011, my Department led a collaborative advertised tender process for the procurement of a multi-supplier competitive framework of photographic service providers.
This is now available for use by all Government Departments. Details of the framework arrangements and the photographers used are posted on the National Procurement Service website: www.procurement.ie/suppliers/contracts/1298.
The purpose of this framework is to ensure Departments’ compliance with EU procurement rules and to ensure value for money by having a competitive process for photographic assignments.
In the time available it is not possible to give a complete breakdown of the costs associated with each event.
Table
|
2007 |
53,955.45 |
|
2008 |
86,144.68 |
|
2009 |
37,107.30 |
|
2010 |
36,629.23 |
|
Total |
213,836.66 |
