Seán Ryan (Dublin North, Labour)
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Question 381: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the amount of expenditure on consultancy by his Department in 2003, 2004 and 2005; the number of consultants engaged by his Department in those years; and the steps which have been taken to reduce the expenditure on consultancy and the reliance on consultants by his Department in these years and for the future. [41716/06]

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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My Department incurred the following expenditure on consultancy over the years in question.

A total of 52 consultants were employed over this period. My Department observes the Department of Finance Guidelines for Engagement of Consultants in the Civil Service. Every effort is made to ensure that consultants are only employed in circumstances where specialised knowledge or expertise, which is not available in the Department or elsewhere in the public service, is required for a temporary period or a specialist study/project must be completed within a very short time scale.