Written answers
Tuesday, 8 April 2014
Department of Environment, Community and Local Government
Parliamentary Questions Costs
Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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393. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the costs to his Department to process and respond to a priority, an oral and a written parliamentary question. [16590/14]
Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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No staff in my Department are assigned on a full-time basis to dealing with Parliamentary Questions, which are dealt with, as the need arises, by the staff of the Business Units dealing with the particular issue(s) raised in individual questions. The number and level of staff and the time spent on preparing responses to individual Parliamentary Questions, and the associated cost, depends on a range of factors, including the complexity of the issue raised and the extent to which the information involved is readily available in my Department. Undoubtedly, a considerable amount of time is required to answer the significant number of questions tabled to me by Deputies. However , it is not possible to readily quantify the cost involved for the reasons outlined above and, as the processing of individual Parliamentary Questions is undertaken as part of the normal day to day work of individual Business Units within my Department, it would be unnecessarily burdensome to endeavour to iso late the administrative costs from the overall administrative costs of my Department.
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