Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

256. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government 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. [52244/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The processing of individual Parliamentary Questions is undertaken as part of the normal day to day work of individual Sections within my Department and no staff in my Department are assigned full time to deal with Parliamentary Questions.

The number and level of staff, and the time spent on individual replies, depends on the complexity and urgency of the issues raised, the ease of access to the required information, and the degree of cross-Divisional coordination required in preparing the reply.  

Each Question may have input from staff within Sections, the Principal Officers and equivalents leading those sections, the relevant Assistant Secretary, the Secretary General and his office staff and the Minister and Ministers of State and staff in their offices. While information may have to be sought from external parties for the purposes of preparing replies, the preparation of all replies is managed by staff of the Department.

A breakdown of the numbers of Oral and Written Questions for 2016 and 2017 is available on page 57 of  my Department's  2017 annual report, which can be accessed at the following link -  

.

Information in regard to Questions processed to end November 2018 is set out below;

* The remainder of questions were disallowed, withdrawn or transferred. 

Questions are not referred to agencies under the aegis of my Department for direct reply as information in relation to such bodies is a matter for the individual bodies concerned.  However, arrangements have been put in place by each agency to facilitate the provision of information directly to members of the Oireachtas.  The contact email addresses for each agency, as set out below, are provided in response to Parliamentary Questions, where appropriate.