Written answers

Tuesday, 12 May 2009

Department of Foreign Affairs

Consultancy Contracts

8:00 pm

Photo of Fergus O'DowdFergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 288: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has employed consultants or lobbyists to act for his Department outside the State in the past five years; the nature of the work; the cost of the work undertaken; the outcome of such action; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18610/09]

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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My Department does not engage consultants to act as lobbyists on its behalf. However, on occasion, consultants engaged by my Department do engage in activity outside the State. For example, in 2007, KPMG were commissioned to undertake a Value for Money Review of the Irish Passport Service. In assessing efficiency and effectiveness, the review used the services operated in Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK as international comparators, and travel to those countries, acting on behalf of the Department, was required. The total cost of the review, including the cost of the fieldwork outside the State, was €71,384. Copies of the report were lodged with the Houses of the Oireachtas in November 2008 and the report is also published on the Department's website. Similarly, Value for Money Reviews of other areas of the Department's work, such as our support for emigrants and Irish Aid assistance to fight HIV/AIDS, as well as the Management Review of Irish Aid, have required field work by consultants to be undertaken outside the State.

Given the nature of its work, the Irish Aid programme utilises independent technical advisors on specific projects and programmes outside the State. These offer technical advice on sectors such as water, education, health, governance, evaluation, and other relevant areas to assist the aid programme, recipient governments, local authorities, NGOs and the other organisations. My Department is happy to provide more detail on all of these projects and programmes to the Deputy.

While the Department does not pay lobbyists to work on its behalf, there are occasions where the Department has provided funding for lobby groups or advocacy organisations through grant in aid mechanisms such as the Emigrant Support Programme. For example, through the Emigrant Support Programme, the Government has allocated grant-in-aid to a number of independent organisations that advocate on behalf of Irish citizens abroad, including the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, which, since 2006, has received grants totalling $235,000.

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