Written answers
Tuesday, 5 February 2008
Department of Foreign Affairs
Departmental Expenditure
9:00 pm
Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 398: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the average cost to his Department of answering a parliamentary question. [3864/08]
Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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An essential everyday part of the work of staff in my Department is serving the needs of this House. Preparing material related to answering Parliamentary Questions is an essential element of this.
Replies to Parliamentary Questions are drafted by the staff in the sections dealing with the particular issues raised. While 941 Parliamentary Questions were answered by my Department in 2007, no record is kept of the time taken to prepare material for replies to individual questions and therefore it is not possible to calculate the costs incurred. The number of staff and the time spent on an individual answer depends on the complexity of the issues raised, the level of supporting detail to be retrieved and collated and the form of the proposed response, i.e. whether oral or written.
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