Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 September 2023
203. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the average cost of producing an IGEES report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41283/23]
View answerThe Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) is a cross-Departmental network of Civil Service economists and policy analysts working directly for their respective Departments. IGEES consists of persons recruited through the IGEES recruitment stream and other Civil Servants in policy analysis roles, who, through the use of data and analytical work, support evidence-informed policy making in the Irish Civil Service.
IGEES staff work on a variety of different tasks, depending on the work programme of their Department. As part of this work, IGEES analysts produce analytical reports and publications. These papers include Spending Reviews, Value for Money Reviews, Social Impact Assessments, Budget Papers, Departmental Papers and Focused Policy Assessments.
The IGEES economists and policy analysts, who produce these reports, are civil servants working within government departments. In line with other reports that are produced by civil servants in government departments, the costs of producing such reports are part of the overall employment costs of the policy analyst/economists involved in producing such reports. Where a production of an IGEES report includes external research expertise, this expertise is procured following public procurement procedures.
