Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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64. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the number of parliamentary questions his Department has processed in the past three years to date; the number of questions answered directly; the number of questions referred to bodies or agencies under the aegis of his Department for direct reply; the number of staff who are assigned to his parliamentary questions section; and if non-departmental staff, advisers and-or public affairs and relations companies have composed parliamentary question replies or had an act or hand in forming parliamentary question replies in the timeframe specified. [52242/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department does not have a specific section to deal with Parliamentary Questions. Replies are prepared in the first instance by Departmental staff in the business unit dealing with the matter which is the subject of each individual question. From time to time, one of my advisers may input into a reply to specific questions. Questions are not referred to external bodies such as public relations companies. There are no state bodies or agencies under the aegis of my Department. The number of Parliamentary Questions answered by my Department over the last three years is set out in the following table:

* To end November 2018