Departmental Expenditure.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 October 2004

Thursday, 7 October 2004

Ceisteanna (120, 121)

Olwyn Enright

Ceist:

120 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the amount of money paid out by his Department in public relations fees; the name of the firm that was paid the highest amount; the amount paid to a specific firm (details supplied); the amount of money paid out by the Department in other consultancy fees; the name of the firm or individual paid the highest amount for the most recent 12 month period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23868/04]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern)

For the period referred to by the Deputy, the Department of Foreign Affairs paid €23,466.74 in public relations fees for a promotion campaign for the EU Presidency website. The greater part of this amount was for the purchasing of media advertising space. As regards the second question raised by the Deputy, the name of the firm was Red Dog Design Consultants. The Department did not make any payments to the specific firm referred to by the Deputy.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is responsible for two Votes; Vote 28, foreign affairs, and Vote 29, international co-operation. For the most recent 12 month period, expenditure on consultancies for each Vote was as follows: Vote 28: €1,274,686.49; Vote 29: €2,208,876.00.

The Department of Foreign Affairs commissions consultancies where specialised knowledge and skills are not available within the Department, especially in the case of the Development Co-operation Ireland programme, where an independent evaluation of programmes and projects is required. DCI consultancies cover a wide range of sectors including HIV-AIDS, education, health and rural development. An outsourcing specialist was recruited in 2002 to oversee the commissioning of consultancies under Vote 29. Since then, procedures and systems have been reviewed and strengthened to help ensure that maximum value for money is achieved.

Under Vote 28, the greater part of recent expenditure on consultancies related to the upgrading of the Department's information technology infrastructure at headquarters and in our missions abroad, and the putting in place of the new, automated, passport production system. The latter is essential to meet future demands for passports in an efficient and effective manner and to comply with new international security regulations for passports.

Under Vote 28, BearingPoint consultants have received the highest amount of fees for the period in question. BearingPoint is the principal contractor for the APS project, and have responsibility for supply of hardware, software, design solutions, development and associated services. In large scale projects of this type, the cost of system development is an integral part of the contract and cannot easily be separated from other areas of the project.

Under Vote 29, the highest amount of fees was paid to the firm, Mokoro, which is based in the UK. These payments covered a number of consultancy assignments.

Olwyn Enright

Ceist:

121 Ms Enright asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the total amount of money paid out by his Department in legal fees; the details of the firms paid the greatest amount of fees; the total amount of money paid out in legal settlements; the number of such settlements; the total number of claims against his Department, for the most recent 12 month period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23882/04]

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Cowen)

For the period referred to by the Deputy, the Department paid €200,571.38 in legal fees, of which €62,633.22 was paid to firms abroad for legal services regarding the leasing or purchasing of properties abroad. The greatest amount of fees was paid to the firm of Noonan, Linehan, Carroll, Coffey, Solicitors. This payment was made to discharge my Department's share of a partial award of costs to a client of that firm.

The Department did not pay any legal settlements for the period in question. Two claims were made against the Department during this period and these are being dealt with by the State Claims Agency. Two further claims against the Department from an earlier period are being dealt with by the Chief State Solicitor's office.