Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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287. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the details of the use of external public relations firms employed by his Department per annum since March 2011 in tabular form; the list of uses of the external public relations firm; the internal Department policy with regard to employing external groups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39508/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Since my appointment as Minister for Social Protection on 6 May this year, my Department has not employed any external public relations firms.

It is the policy of the Department of Social Protection that its Press Office deals with all media queries and public relations matters. My Department’s policy is to use in-house resources as much as possible and to restrict the use of external public relations firms to a minimum.

During the period referred to by the Deputy, prior to my appointment to this office, the Department has used the services of one external public relations firm for training purposes, details of which are outlined in the following table: