Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 7: To ask the Taoiseach the consultants engaged by his Department since June 1997; the purpose of each assignment; the projected cost and actual cost of each assignment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30010/05]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 8: To ask the Taoiseach the consultants engaged by his Department since 1997; the projected cost of each assignment and the actual cost; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31428/05]

Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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Question 9: To ask the Taoiseach the number of consultancy contracts commissioned by his Department, or the boards and agencies under the auspices of his Department since 1997; the purpose and costs of each consultancy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31434/05]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 10: To ask the Taoiseach the number of contracts valued in excess of €50,000 awarded by him to outside consultants in respect of each year since 2000; the recipient of the contract in each case; the details of the work covered by the contract; the original estimate of the cost of the contract; the final amount paid in respect of each such contract; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31497/05]

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Question 11: To ask the Taoiseach the projected and actual cost of consultancy contracts commissioned by his Department since 1997; and the purpose of each assignment. [36866/05]

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 11, inclusive, together.

I propose to circulate with the Official Report a table which gives details of consultants engaged by my Department since 1997. A second table to be circulated gives details of consultants engaged by bodies under the aegis of my Department during the same period. A third table gives details of the number of contracts above €50,000 in each year since 2000.

Every effort is made by my 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 in so far as it is possible, skills-transfer from consultants to departmental staff takes place as an integral part of all consultancy engagements.

The purpose of this is to increase the knowledge and expertise of departmental staff and to reduce and, if possible, eliminate future dependance on consultants in the areas concerned.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Taoiseach for including the tables.

One of the most expensive contracts issued by the Department of the Taoiseach in recent years was the €500,000 spent on the evaluation of the strategic management initiative in 2001. That is a significant expenditure in any event. What recommendations from that particular consultancy report have been put in place to justify that level of expenditure? What sort of recommendations were made in that evaluation that have since been implemented? I will wait and see what the tables that the Taoiseach will circulate will show.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the work of the strategic management initiative, which really commenced in 1992, was centred in my Department for the entire Government area. It was not just for my Department.

That report started the work on the financial management in Departments, on the human resources management in Departments and on many other guidelines that have been set out for various systems' improvements in Departments. There were not people in the Government system who were capable of dealing with that. I have listed a breakdown of the various initiatives that happened under that but, by and large, it was to try to improve the modernisation and change management agenda across a range of Departments. The Department's modernisation programme represented some of those costs and related to the implementation of modernisation initiatives, but the costs went mainly on the modern financial management and the human resources management systems. There were some other ones, including performance management and development systems. It has proved to be highly successful. We now have very modern financial management systems.

The reason for outside engagement in this was the move to accrual accounting, which we had not got in Departments previously. Up until then the entire system operated on a cash basis. The moves in recent years to develop an accrual accounts system make it far more modern. They make it similar to that which would probably apply in industry, but it was always done previously on a cash basis where one had the carry-over rather than the accrual system.

Equally, there have been substantial savings. Up until we introduced, a few years after 2001, the human resource management system, issues were recorded but one did not have the ability to get the breakdowns and the information on staffing and costs, expenditures on telephones, allowances and such issues which are now built into the HR system. That has proved to be very effective in my Department and I am sure right across the system. The work that was undertaken over the years on this has now proved that we have a very modern financial reporting system.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Does the Taoiseach's Department, and indeed all Departments, operate a standard scale of fees for consultancy work? Is there a tendering process operated for such work in the same way as for Government contracts? Is there a particular threshold over which his Department is obliged to put consultancy work out to tender? Can he tell us whether there has been any comparison done between comparable in-house work in Departments and consultancy secured labour in order that we would have some idea of the cost benefit analysis, the standard of the work, whether the competency exists within the Department and whether it is necessary to opt for consultancy work?

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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The procurement of consultancy services in my Department is subject to the public procurement guidelines of the Department of Finance and they are set out in the Guidelines for Engagement of Consultants in the Civil Service of 1999. There have been some amendments to those, but not many. Procurement of outside expertise in the public relations field is also subject to public procurement guidelines as set out in the 2004 Department of Finance publication and the Public Procurement Guidelines Competitive Process, which replaced the previous Department of Finance guidelines entitled Public Procurement 1994 Edition — Green Book. That is the basis by which all contracts are governed. Any contract must fulfil those regulations, and the section, the Accounting Officer and the financial people in each Department must satisfy the arrangements as set out in those documents.

In addition, the procurement of these services is also subject to the applicable EU procurement rules and guidelines. Since early this year additional guidelines have been specifically put in place for communications consultancies and that is now incorporated into the Cabinet handbook. Most recently a number of new measures were announced which will contribute to improving the management and value for money aspects of consultancies, and the Deputy will be familiar with those.

On the Department of Finance guidelines for engagement of consultants, the way we operate these in my Department is we try to avoid needing consultants in the first place, if we have the expertise within the Department. As I mentioned on IT, we managed to do without them totally because we were lucky enough to have people with third level qualifications in this area who were able to form a project team. This is not always the case.

A consultant transfers skills or expertise to an organisation, which either does not possess these in-house or requires an independent evaluation assessment to be made. These are the two circumstances in which we would get outside consultants: where we do not have the relevant specialists in the Department and where we think the work concerned requires an independent evaluation of the way we are doing it, or where it is questioned and we believe, for internal audit or other purposes, that maybe there is another way.

Work done by outsiders is often not considered to be consultancy. A definition in the 1999 regulations states that the engagement of non-permanent staff to carry out the work of the office, where it is staff substitution, is not consultancy. If there are contracted services, the purchase of ongoing and essential routine services for a specified period, maintenance and so on, these are not consultancy. Neither is expenditure on software development from analysis to implementation because this involves developing the system, not consultancy. These are the definitions.

The Deputy makes a good point. When we employ consultancy for a particular purpose we try to fully engage the staff of the Civil Service in the work involved so that when a similar job arises, perhaps in another section, at least the civil servants will be familiar with procedures. This also has attractions for civil servants as regards training. We try to avoid replicating consultancy work in different sections and paying for it all again. The Deputy makes a valid point, and certainly in my Department what is being done cuts down on expenditure. The figures from my Department indicate that we do not use very many consultancies for this reason.

One initiative my Department takes which costs money but gives value is that it encourages staff to embark on further education through night classes. The fees are paid and they are given time off. This helps to build up expertise within the Departments. There is always the danger that they may transfer from the Department, but it is preferable, at least, that they remain in the Civil Service system.

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Given that the Book of Estimates submitted in recent weeks indicates less money in each category on consultancy expenditure for every Department, does the Government expect to make less use of consultancies in the coming year? Is this recognition that there has been an overuse of consultancies in the past? Given that parliamentary questions have been answered to the effect that since 1998, across all Departments, there have been more than——

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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This question refers specifically to the Department of the Taoiseach.

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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I am getting to the Department of the Taoiseach.

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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I would prefer if the Deputy would come directly to it.

Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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There have been 3,000 consultancies in general by the Government. The Taoiseach has indicated earlier that we will be supplied with tables to indicate how that applies specifically to his Department. We have not been given the answers as regards overall cost. Without the House having the tables directly before us, will the Taoiseach at least tell us beforehand the number of consultancies that have applied to his Department and the overall cost?

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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The number is 70 consultancies across my Department, effectively for a nine-year period. That is about an average of eight per annum. A good number of those relate to the change management agenda under CMOD, as indicated in my answer to Deputy Kenny. Some of those are paid for by them as well as the performance and development issues. Some of them relate to the period for the year before and during the EU Presidency. In departmental terms there is not a great deal. In the social policy area, surrounding social partnership issues in the main, there are eight. On independent evaluations — the point I was making to Deputy Ó Caoláin — there are two. The Civil Service modernisation programme, which is the big one, accounts for 28. There is only one for IT, namely, the one I spoke about in my answer to Deputy Kenny. In training and career development there are three. In ICT there are three, seven for the Presidency, seven under the heading e-Cabinet and four that do not fall into any of these categories. Money spent over the period amounted to €2,818,388. Most of these projects would have involved enhancements, improvements and developments.

It is the task of every Department to determine whether it is overusing the system. I hope my Department does not. However, at least there is some focus to the effect that if it happens, it occurs sparingly and under the two categories I have mentioned: either to enhance an existing system or develop a new one; or where an outside appraisal is required. The more internal staff who can do the work the better. My Department is not large, with just over 220 people working in it. However, we try hard not to become involved in consultancies unless something meaningful is required. A fair degree of thought is put into that.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The next batch of questions on social partnership is important. The House would not do them justice in the time available, so I had better think of something to ask the Taoiseach about this list.

Does he believe this is the nature of modern government? Even though this does not relate to a line Minister and it is his Department, there are pages and pages of consultancies. Is it unreasonable to expect that some of the work indicated should be discharged by civil servants employed by the State or is this the way of the future? There are literally pages and pages. Some of them are quite mysterious and I have no idea what they are about. Under the Moriarty tribunal heading one finds €50,000 paid to Peter Bacon & Associates for analysis and advice. I do not know what that is about. There are two separate items under the same heading that indicate the supplier is "confidential". I do not know what that is about. There are things such as €50,000 to the London School of Economics, for the provision of a training course on regulation. I do not know what that is. Perhaps the Taoiseach did not pay his fees at the time or something.

I want to ask, in particular, about the parliamentary reply given to the House by the Minister of State with responsibility for transport, Deputy Callely, where he said in respect of the recent advertisements in which he featured so prominently: "The advertisements in question were commissioned by the Dublin Transportation Office as part of a public information campaign——

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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That matter does not arise out of this question which refers specifically to the Department of the Taoiseach.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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——for Operation Freeflow." I asked the question in terms of the Taoiseach's responsibility for the code of practice for office holders.

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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The matter does not arise out of this question.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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In a subsequent letter to my colleague, Deputy Shortall, from the Dublin Transportation Office, it is made clear——

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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I would prefer if the Deputy did not pursue that line. It is totally out of order. The Deputy is aware that there are many ways open to him to raise this matter, but not out of this question, which refers specifically to the Department of the Taoiseach.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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It is clear to the DTO that the Minister of State intruded himself uninvited——

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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I ask the Deputy to resume his seat and allow the Taoiseach to answer his legitimate question.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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I know that it is unbelievable that the Minister of State might do such a thing. Does the Taoiseach have a view on this?

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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I ask Deputy Rabbitte to resume his seat.

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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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.