Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

679. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide, in tabular form, by year, the total photography costs for his Department since coming into office, inclusive of the costs incurred from use of the ministerial allowance; if he will provide the list of occasions for which photographers were booked; the photographers used; the breakdown of costs associated with each occasion that a photographer was used; if there is a policy regarding the booking of photographers within his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23421/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

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 the President of Mozambique, the Presidential Distinguished Service Awards and the launch of the OECD Development Assistance Committee peer review 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 last October.

The total cost of photography to my Department over the period in question is €31,900.30.

The table following indicates the cost associated with particular events.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

680. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide, in tabular form, by year, the use of 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. [23437/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

A table containing the information requested follows. My Department has not incurred expenditure on external public relations services since my entry into office in July 2014. The expenditure in question has rather arisen in the context of specific initiatives under Ireland’s overseas development programme for which we have from time to time commissioned companies with a public relations and communications background to provide other professional services such as project management, logistics and event management. DHR Communications has been contracted to manage and administer grants to journalists reporting on international development issues under the Simon Cumbers Media Fund (SCMF) and to manage and administer annual Africa Day celebrations. The SCMF involves managing three funding rounds each year and managing the SCMF student competition. This typically involves the following activities: Convening national and regional information workshops; Managing and administering the application process; Organising the judging process; Providing detailed feedback to all applicants; Processing grant payments and keeping detailed administrative and financial records; Maintaining and updating the SCMF website.

It should be noted that expenses paid to third parties account for approximately 30% of the total paid to DHR for managing and administering the Simon Cumbers Media Fund. This includes costs associated with maintaining and updating the SCMF website, facilitating the judging process and raising awareness of the Fund among journalists. DHR was awarded a new two-year contract in April 2015 following a competitive tendering process.

Following a further competitive tendering process, DHR was also engaged to plan, manage and execute a national Africa Day 2015 flagship event in Dublin. Like annual Africa Day events held over successive years, this incorporated musical entertainment and cultural activities aimed principally at family audiences. DHR’s role involved the administration of a small grants scheme for regional events which they managed on behalf of the Department in partnership with a number of local authorities. DHR also worked to raise public awareness of the Africa Day events, including through the use of social media and the Africa Day website. This work represented a very minor element of the overall project and was conducted in close cooperation with my Department’s communications office.

In relation to the expenditure on Africa Day, expenses paid to third parties accounted for between 70% and 80% of the total costs listed below. This included expenditure on security, sanitation, venue set-up, health and safety issues and small grants to facilitate the participation of community groups.

The table following sets out the payments to DHR since July 2014.

Expenditure July 2014 to date