Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will provide details in tabular form for the years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and to date in 2012 the total amount of expenditure on consultancy by his Department, any body under his aegis or State agency for which he has responsibility; the names of the consultancy companies awarded contracts; the nature of the work concerned; the fees paid to each consultant; if the matter was advertised for competitive tender; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45293/12]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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The table below outlines details of fees paid for professional services by my Department over the past 12 months. My Department administers a very diverse and complex brief. The Department has a small cohort of permanent staff, some 245 full time equivalents at present. Its remit includes oversight of very complex policy areas and direct procurement of major services where protection of the State’s interest must be paramount. This situation necessarily requires my Department to procure specialist external professional advice notably in legal, financial and technical areas to enable it to discharge its responsibility to deliver quality services and protect the interests of the State and the taxpayer. Projects for which my Department is responsible include the intensive and nationwide campaign on Digital Switchover, strategic review of oil refining capability, complex telecommunications contracts such as the MANs and the National Broadband Scheme, and oversight of compliance with the Corrib consent conditions (the cost of which is recouped from the developer).

In addition the very limited in–house technical resources in areas such as geoscience, energy and telecommunications makes it imperative to have recourse to a certain amount of external professional services in these areas. Many of these outsourced services relate to specialist, technical, defined term projects which are externally funded. The table below reflects the above context. 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 €2.249m in 2008 to €1.372m in 2011.

Details on arrangements entered into by bodies under the aegis of the Department are a day to day matter for the bodies themselves. In relation to the competitive tendering for contracts my Department adheres to the relevant EU Regulations and Department of Finance Guidelines on the procurement of goods and services.

Professional fees paid by the Department of Communications Energy and Natural Resources from October 2011 to October 2012