Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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144. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources 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. [10009/14]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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My Department’s expenditure on consultancy advice services, including legal services, for the years 2011 to 2013 is set out in tabular format below. In procuring these specialised services, my Department always seeks to ensure value for money and the keeping of expenditure to the minimum necessary.

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 expenditure on outsourced services as part of programme expenditure, an element of which is consultancy in nature, which is included in the figures below.