asked the Minister for Social Welfare if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Combat Poverty Agency, a publicly funded body, are paying for contracted research without advertising for such contracts publicly; his views on such a procedure; and if he will direct the agency, in the interests of attracting the widest possible research talent in the country, to advertise research contracts publicly.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Combat Poverty Agency.
8.
The procedures decided on by the Combat Poverty Agency in contracting out research are as follows:
Commissioned research involving expenditure greater than £10,000 is publicly advertised. Research projects which are longer than three months duration and involve expenditure of £10,000 or less are awarded to one of a panel of research assistants set up by the agency earlier this year. These temporary posts had been circularised to the universities, the Institute of Public Administration, the National Institute for Higher Education, the Agricultural Institute and the Sociological Association of Ireland.
Commissioned research of three months duration or less is awarded by the agency to researchers with relevant expertise.
While I accept the desirability of research contracts being advertised as widely as possible, the extent to which this can be done is obviously limited by the size of the contract and the need to ensure that cost effective procedures are adopted. I am satisfied that the procedures followed by the Combat Poverty Agency, as outlined in my reply, meet these criteria.
I am grateful to the Minister for the information. There are, however, some complaints about this matter. Would the Minister not see fit perhaps to review these procedures from time to time and encourage the Combat Poverty Agency at least to circulate information about their forthcoming research projects on a wider basis than they are doing at the moment and, therefore, avoid complaints among people involved in economic research as well as social research who feel they are being unfairly discriminated against by the agency?
I accept what the Deputy says. I have no problem with his proposal. It is reasonable that we review what has been done and see whether the information should not be circularised again freshly at this stage to make sure that people are fully aware of the opportunities which may be there for research. The Combat Poverty Agency are really only getting into their stride at this stage. I will communicate that to the agency.
I ask the Minister to ensure that the agency circulate or put around an advertisement of their panel of researchers. This apparently is not done at the moment and that has given rise to complaints. I ask the Minister to instruct the agency to circulate the panel widely and to re-establish the panel on maybe a quarterly or half-yearly basis.
From the information I have the panel was set up through circulars which were sent to the relevant bodies earlier. I am undertaking to the Deputy to ensure that these are circulated again widely as soon as possible.