Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

As stated, there have been 70 consultancies over the period in my Department and I have given the breakdown. It represents an average of about €300,000 per annum. I have outlined most of the work involved. I do not have the details of some of the smaller projects and have just given the information on the larger ones. However, when the full schedules are available, I shall be pleased to answer questions or get further information as regards individual projects.

Deputy Rabbitte's general point on whether it is now a trend that more consultancies are being employed across Departments is valid. My Department is relatively sparing in this regard. We use consultancies where the expertise is not available within the Department; where something additional is involved, as was the case with the EU Presidency, the change management agenda where someone is brought in to advise, or where an independent assessment is needed, as has happened in only a few cases.

On the Deputy's question as to whether there are more consultancies, with regard to the level, scale and examination of decisions made, whether by the House, Oireachtas committees or the outside world, increasingly, public servants, including those in my Department will consider getting the assessments and the analysis of would-be experts. The Deputy and I might often argue whether they are experts. I detect that people are becoming more protective and are watching what they do to a greater extent than was the case some years ago. Whether that is good is open to debate, but it is happening. It is not that the money is wasted, but the nature of decisions and the fact that we have an increasing number of regulators with whom Departments find themselves in debate mean that Departments must be armed with more sophisticated replies than they believe they can produce. The complexity of our work and its sheer size with the complexity of its examination have led to a different position than has previously been the case.

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