Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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608. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide, in tabular form and by year, the external public relations firms employed by his Department since coming into office; if he will provide the list of uses of the external public relations firm and internal Department policy with regard to employing external groups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23438/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Press and Communications Office of the Department liaises with the media on behalf of the Department and does not use the services of public relations companies. The Department has not spent any money on public relations consultants between July 2014 and December 2014. I will revert to the Deputy should there have been any such expenditure during 2015.

It is the policy in my Department only to engage the services of external consultants where it is felt to be appropriate and cost-effective, taking account of Government decisions and policy on the matter.