John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 495: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the expenditure in 2007 on public relations; his views on whether this is value for money; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23659/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

There were a number of public relation initiatives undertaken by my Department in 2007. The contracts in question arose in very specific circumstances where the Department was required to carry out information and awareness-raising campaigns.

As part of the promotion of the public awareness and understanding of the work of the expanding Irish Aid programme, a number of public relation initiatives were undertaken in 2007:

Bannon and Bannon (now part of Grayling PR) were paid €5,082 for public relations services for the Hunger Task Force;

A consultant, Ms. Daire Higgins, was paid €24,750 to promote the opening of the Irish Aid Volunteering and Information Centre in Dublin as part of the campaign to inform the public of its services.

Both contracts were awarded following competitive processes.

Also in 2007, the Department's Communicating Europe Initiative paid a sum of €4,039 to Rachel Dalton Communications to promote and publish the work of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Affairs and the Sub Committee on European Scrutiny (the Sub-Committee was in place in the 29th Dáil). The Committee was ultimately responsible for the recruitment of the Consultant, for setting out the terms and conditions of employment and for ensuring that the services provided represented value for money. The services were obtained through a tendering process. The Committee provided the Department with a report of the work carried out.

I am very conscious of the need to achieve value for money on consultancy expenditure. The Department only awards contracts for public relations activities where there is a very clear and specific need for this expertise and if it cannot be provided from the Department's own resources.