In May 2020, my Department worked with the National Public Health Emergency Team on a survey of business readiness for physical changes to the work environment as a result of COVID-19. As part of this, the Department engaged an external consultancy company to carry out online and telephone surveys of businesses. The total cost of these surveys was €26,730.
In 2021, the Department commissioned external consultants to carry out an independent review of the COVID-19 Restart Grant and Restart Grant Plus. This work is ongoing and no payments have been made to date.
There has not been any further expenditure on COVID-19 related consultancy contracts by my Department during the period in question.
Expenditure on external consultancy by the agencies under the remit of my Department is an administrative matter for the agencies themselves and not one in which I have a function. The Department does not routinely collect details of such expenditure by the agencies.