Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I am not sure where the Deputy is obtaining those figures, but on the specific question of expenditure on consultancies, there has been no spend in my Department's administrative budget on PR between January and October 2008. However, the National Forum on Europe spent €108,182 on public relations as at 31 October 2008. Expenditure on consultancy services by my Department as at the end of October 2008 was €195,323. That relates to the spend under subheads A7 and A10. In addition, the following amounts were spent on consultancies by programmes under my Department's Vote between the period January 2008 and October 2008. The spend by the National Forum on Europe was €6,939. The spend of the Ireland-Newfoundland Partnership was €1,028.

Further to the Department of Finance requirements, the Department has reduced the budget allocation for consultancy by 50% in 2008 and we will continue to monitor spend in this area closely. In addition, a total of €393,401 was spent by the Department of Finance through the change management fund. Every effort is made by the Department to minimise expenditure on consultancy services, however, where it is necessary to engage consultants in order to avail of their particular expertise or experience the procurement of consultancy services is subject to public procurement guidelines and, where applicable, EU procurement rules and guidelines with selection criteria geared to select the most economically advantageous tender.

It is also our policy that skills transfer from consultants to departmental staff takes place as an integral part of all consultancy engagements. The purpose of that is to increase the knowledge and expertise of departmental staff and to reduce and, if possible, eliminate further dependence on consultants in the areas concerned.

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