Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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156. To ask the Minister for Health 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. [52243/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The statistical information requested by the Deputy is presented in the following table. The four staff of the Secretary General's Office staff allocate PQs and return replies to the Oireachtas. All departmental staff are involved in the preparation of PQ replies.  Ministerial Advisors in the Department are involved in reviewing prepared replies.  There is no role for public affairs and relations companies in the PQ process.