Vol. 475 No. 2
33 Mr. B. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Equality and Law Reform the total amount of money expended on consultancies in the past two years; the total number of reports from these consultancies; and the cost of such reports. [1497/97]
Expenditure on consultancies by my Department in 1995 and 1996 to the Pensions Board, QMP, MRBI, and Mr. Michael Keegan has been provided in my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 135 of 28 January 1997 as reported in Volume 473, No. 6 at columns 1745 to 1747 of the Official Report; and expenditure on a consultancy to TCD has been provided in my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 130 and 132 of 21 May 1996, as reported in volume 465, No. 6, at columns 1592 to 1594 of the Official Report. In addition Destination Ireland received a sum of £19,495 to organise two conferences in connection with the EU Presidency and Ms A. Colgan received £35,300 to advise the Department on disability.
These figures are exclusive of expenditure incurred by bodies which operate under the aegis of my Department and by other bodies which have connections with but are independent of my Department, viz. the Commission on the Status of People with Disabilities, the Travellers Task Force, and ADM Limited in relation to the report on the pilot child care initiative. Many of the consultants were engaged for the purpose of providing services, conducting polls, etc. and no formal report was required. Only one such report was furnished and its cost was integrated in the cost of the consultancy. Accordingly, the cost of the report cannot be isolated from the other consultancy costs.
