Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 9 Oct 2002

Vol. 554 No. 5

Written Answers. - Consultancy Contracts.

Bernard Allen

Ceist:

1632 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the amount of funding for consultant and related study contracts which has been approved as part of the 2002 departmental Estimates and budgets in each organisation and agency falling within his Department's aegis for this type of work; the degree of cutback compared to 2001; the consultancy projects which have been cancelled or postponed as a consequence of the cutbacks; the capital projects which will be postponed as a consequence of the cutback in consultancy budgets; the consultancy projects under consideration with his Department and its agencies which will be funded in 2002. [17187/02]

Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (Éamon Ó Cuív):

Subhead A7 of my Department's Vote is the main source of funding for consultancies undertaken by my Department, although the costs of some consultancies are met from divisional subheads. The allocation of €2,385,000 in 2002, originally for the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, to subhead A7 represented a considerable increase over the provisional outturn for 2001. The main reason for the increase related to the Department's information framework and IT projects. Clearly there has been no need to cancel or postpone any planned capital projects or consultancies as a consequence.

Arising from the major mid-year administrative changes involving the establishment of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, the major consultancies now planned for my Department differ from those originally envisaged for the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands. The main consultancies now planned involve the e-Government initiative, the management information framework, human resource management, Gaeltacht client database, Údarás na Gaeltachta's property and equity portfolio and the IT network infrastructure.

The Deputy will appreciate that I have no direct role with regard to consultancies undertaken on behalf of bodies under my Department's aegis.