Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 656: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the average cost to his Department of answering a parliamentary question. [3866/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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It is not readily feasible to isolate the costs associated with the answering of parliamentary questions from the administrative costs of my Department generally. Nevertheless, there is no doubt but that a substantial and growing cost is in fact associated with this exercise. This is well-illustrated by the growth in the number of questions in recent years, with 1729 questions answered (excluding those withdrawn or disallowed) in the last four months of 2007 alone, representing an increase of 230% over the equivalent period in 2000. Most Divisions within my Department must dedicate a proportion of their resources to this work and in some instances the drafting of responses represents a major drain on the resources of the Division in question. While I consider responding to Parliamentary Questions an important element of my functions as a Minister, it is questionable whether the full extent of the resources deployed to this end truly represents the best use of the Department's resources, especially when one considers the many other less expensive means by which information may be obtained.

Moreover, I should also add that in many instances preparation of a response requires operational agencies, notably An Garda Síochána and the Irish Prison Service, to devote their own resources to the collection and collation of information for incorporation in the response. The Deputy will appreciate that the deployment of such resources to this function may be at the expense of core law-enforcement and public safety activities.