Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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357. To ask the Minister for Health the amount spent by the HSE and his Department on external consultancies in each of the years 2011 to 2018, in tabular form; the name of the company; the service provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2451/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Department's total expenditure on external consultants for the years requested since 2011 is as set out at the following link:

.

It is the policy in my Department only to engage the services of external consultants where highly specialised skills are not available within the Department and, in particular, when such an approach is felt to be more appropriate and cost-effective. 

The tables outline the total amount spent on external consultants from 2011 to 2018. While some contracts are negotiated on the basis of a daily and hourly rate, others are paid a fee on the basis of reaching a number of milestones during the process and in some case producing a report.

I have asked the HSE to issue a separate reply.