Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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731. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide in tabular form the total photography costs for his Department per annum in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014; the costs incurred from use of the Ministerial allowance; a list of occasions for which photographers were booked; the photographers used; a breakdown of costs associated with each occasion that a photographer was used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1442/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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My Department only avails of the services of external photographic agencies where it is warranted, in particular, for major events and State occasions. This is a service which my Department provides so that the media can easily and freely avail of photography where their own staff photographers cannot be fully accommodated. Events such as the visit of State Visit of Queen Elizabeth, the Global Irish Economic Forum and the Presidential Distinguished Service Awards resulted in positive coverage of Ireland. In September 2011, my Department led a collaborative advertised tender process for the procurement of a multi-supplier competitive framework of photographic service providers. This is now available for use by all Government Departments. Details of the framework arrangements and the photographers used are posted on the National Procurement Service website: . The purpose of this framework is to ensure Departments’ compliance with EU procurement rules and to ensure value for money by having a competitive process for photographic assignments. In addition, my Department now makes greater use of in-house resources for photography, including, for example, at the Irish-Africa Economic Forum in October.

The total cost of photography to my Department over the period in question is €161,493.37.