I propose to take Questions Nos. 301 and 303 together.
Details of external services, including consultancies and public relations firms as requested by the Deputy, are available from my Department's website at the following link www.dttas.ie/corporate/english/expenditure-external-services-2015. This document is updated twice each year and information relating to the first half of 2016 will be available later this month.
It is the policy of the Department in the exercise of its functions to use internal resources as far as possible. Consultants are hired occasionally in circumstances where particular expertise is not available internally and where it is deemed to add value and independence to the overall work of the Department.