John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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352. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the amount his Department spent on public relations consultants and all matters relating to public relations costs in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11430/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The following table contains the information. My Department did not incur expenditure on external public relations services in 2016. 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.

The Africa Day flagship event was hosted by my Department at the Farmleigh Estate on 29 May 2016.

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 following table sets out the payments for project and event management in 2016.

Payments for Project and Event Management in 2016