Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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351. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade 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. [39503/16]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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A table containing the information is set out below. My Department has not incurred expenditure on external public relations services since March 2011. 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, including the annual 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.

Following a competitive tendering process, DHR was also engaged to plan, manage and execute a national Africa Day flagship event in Dublin. This includes the administration of a small grants scheme for regional events which DHR 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 public awareness work represented a very minor element of the overall project and was conducted in close cooperation with my Department’s communications office.

Africa Day Family Days were hosted by the Department in Iveagh Gardens in 2009 and 2010, in CHQ in Georges Dock in 2012 and at the Farmleigh Estate annually since 2013. In 2011, the Department supported a series of smaller-scale performances, family events, art exhibitions, debates and educational activities instead of hosting a flagship event.

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.

DHR also provided short-term management support services for the Review of the White Paper on Irish Aid, including the logistical management of the nationwide public consultation activities.

The table below sets out the payments for project and event management since 2011.

Payments for Project and Event Management 2011 to 2016