Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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46. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will indicate, in tabular form, the total expenditure by his Department on external consultancy advice services, including legal services, in 2011, 2012 and 2013; if this spend is in line with the overall value for money objective of his remit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10013/14]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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My Department is responsible for two Votes, Vote 28 (Foreign Affairs and Trade) and Vote 27 (International Cooperation). My Department engages a range of external service providers in a number of areas where the required skills are not available in-house and it is more cost-effective to source them externally. I have set out in the tables below details of payments to providers of external advisory services and the annual totals from 2011 to the end of 2013 in respect of Vote 28 (Foreign Affairs and Trade) and of Vote 27 (International Cooperation).

These services are procured by competitive tender in accordance with EU and national rules and I am satisfied that this spend is in line with the overall value for money objective of my Department’s remit, particularly in relation to the external services engaged for the independent monitoring and evaluation of Ireland’s programme of overseas development assistance, Irish Aid. Given the overall scale, range and diversity of the Irish Aid programme, as well as the firm commitment to the highest quality, accountability and evaluation, it is necessary to complement the in-house capacity with specialised skills and advice. The level of expenditure on consultancy services is constantly monitored to ensure that it does not exceed the level required for the proper management, oversight, monitoring, evaluation and audit of the aid programme.

With regard to legal services, my Department generally seeks advice on domestic legal matters from the Office of the Attorney General and/or the Chief State Solicitor’s Office. Depending on the subject-matter, domestic litigation is dealt with on my Department’s behalf by the Attorney General’s Office, the Chief State Solicitor’s Office or the State Claims Agency which engage lawyers to act for the Department where necessary and pay their fees. My Department has a Legal Division, which deals with matters of public international law, human rights law, and European Union law and other relevant legal issues. The Division also acts as agent for the Government before certain international courts and tribunals, such as the European Court of Human Rights. In this regard, it works closely with the Office of the Attorney General, which pays the fees of external lawyers. The Department’s Missions abroad engage local legal advisers from time to time to deal with a range of miscellaneous matters. At HQ, the Department has not engaged external private sector legal advice for any of the years 2011 to 2014 to date.

Vote 28 (Foreign Affairs and Trade)

Vote 27 (International Cooperation)