Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 43: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the amount he intends to spend on consultancy fees in 2011, in particular those contracted to identify value for money in his Department. [28402/11]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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My Department manages expenditure under two Votes - Vote 28 (Foreign Affairs) and Vote 29 (International Co-Operation). In 2011, an allocation of €108,000 has been made for consultancy services and value for money and policy reviews in Vote 28. Most of this budget has been allocated towards the provision of specialised ICT consultancy services which are essential in order to maintain the security and integrity of the Department's ICT networks. In line with Government policy, the Department has significantly reduced its spending on consultancy services in recent years. Since 2008, this budget line has been reduced by 81%.

The Vote 29 consultancy budget for 2011 is €1.4 million. My Department, through Irish Aid (Ireland's official development assistance programme), commissions consultancy services where specialised knowledge and/or skills are not available within the Department and where independent appraisal, audit, monitoring and evaluation of programmes and projects is required. Given the overall scale, range and diversity of the Irish Aid programme, it is necessary, from time to time, to complement our in-house capacity with specialised skills and advice. These commissions sometimes involve examination of value for money issues as part of a wider set of objectives for the project. In these situations it is not possible to separately identify the VFM element of the total costs.

The consultancy expenditure is constantly monitored to ensure that it does not exceed the level required for the proper management of the aid programme.