In the period since February 2011, the following amounts were paid to external consultants in respect of reports commissioned by my Department:
€615 — paid to Davy Corporate Finance in respect of a study carried out for the Department in late February/early March 2012 on options for the next National Lottery licence.
€1,210 — paid to Mercer in respect of data used for input to the Organisational Review Programme.
€41,043.20 — paid to RedC in respect of a research project undertaken for the Department and presented to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Investigations, Oversight and Petitions.
With regard to Ministerial allowances, the Deputy will be aware that these are block payments which can, within certain guidelines laid down by the Standards in Public Office Commission, be used at the discretion of the Minister and my Department has no involvement in the disbursement of such allowances. However, I can confirm that no such expenditure was made from my allowances.