Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 1066: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the amount that was spent by his Department on consultants in 2007 and to date in 2008. [31648/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Foreign Affairs is responsible for two Votes — Vote 28 (Foreign Affairs) and Vote 29 (International Cooperation). I have set out in the following table details of expenditure under sub-head A7 (Consultancy) under both Votes in 2007 and to date in 2008.

I am very conscious of the need to achieve value for money on consultancy expenditure. The Department commissions consultancies only where specialised knowledge and/or skills are not available within the Department and, particularly in the case of Irish Aid (Ireland's official development assistance programme), where an independent evaluation of programmes and projects is required. Given the overall scale of the Irish Aid Programme, this level of monitoring, review and evaluation is both prudent and proportionate.