Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 1385: To ask the Minister for Defence the amount that was spent by his Department on consultants in 2007 and to date in 2008. [31644/08]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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The information sought by the Deputy is outlined in the following table:

The figure for 2008 includes once off expenditure of €2.1m in respect of the public information and awareness campaign on emergency planning.

I wish to state also that there is an ongoing capital building programme in my Department designed to modernise the living, training, operational and accommodation facilities available to the Defence Forces, both Permanent and Reserve. There has been an unprecedented level of spending on the programme with over €250 million spent since 1999 with a further €26 million being invested in the programme this year. As a result of this significant increase in the building programme, consultants with appropriate expertise are engaged by the Department as necessary to provide technical services in connection with building and engineering projects. It should be noted that (as per Comptroller and Auditor General, Report on Value for Money "Consultancies in the Civil Service" 1998) such design and engineering consultancies for capital projects are better examined in association with the construction projects to which they relate. The Department spends approximately €2m annually on Construction Consultants Fees.