John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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Question 16: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the costs to his Department of outside consultancy companies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21945/12]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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My Department's expenditure from its consultancy services and value for money and policy reviews budget was €1.364m in 2011, and expenditure of €208k has been incurred to date in 2012. In procuring these specialised services, my Department always seeks to ensure value for money and the keeping of expenditure to the minimum necessary. In this regard, the Deputy might note that expenditure from my Department's consultancy services and value for money and policy reviews budget has reduced from €2.095m in 2007 to €1.364m in 2011.

Given the technical complexity of the sectors which my Department oversees and, in some instances regulates, there is a requirement to procure specialised services to address specific issues as they arise. The Department therefore also necessarily incurs some expenditure on outsourced services as part of programme expenditure, an element of which is consultancy in nature. I will forward the figure for the consultancy element to the Deputy when it is disaggregated from the larger programme spend.