Written answers

Wednesday, 3 May 2023

Department of Finance

Departmental Reports

Photo of Verona MurphyVerona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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113. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of external consultant reports commissioned by his Department in each of the years 2020, 2021, 2022 and to date in 2023; the cost of same; the company involved; the title and publication date, by report, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20547/23]

Photo of Verona MurphyVerona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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114. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of external consultant reports commissioned by the bodies under his Department's aegis in each of the years 2020, 2021, 2022 and to date in 2023; the cost of same; the company involved; the title and publication date, by report, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20548/23]

Photo of Michael McGrathMichael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 113 and 114 together.

Details of external consultant reports commissioned by my Department and bodies under the aegis of my Department since 2020, including cost, company involved and publication date by report are set out in the tables attached.

External consultant reports commissioned by bodies under the aegis of the Department of Finance since 2020, including cost, company involved and the title and publication date.

Body under aegis of Department of Finance Title of Report

and Publication Date
Year Consultant/Company Cost (excl VAT)
Credit Union Advisory Committee (CUAC) The Role of Credit Union Director Report on focus group findings.

(Report was not published but was used as the basis for CUAC’s own “Addendum To Report On Research Into Credit Union Directors” which was published on 21 July 2022)
2022 BehaviourWise €4,900
Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman FSPO Awareness Survey on Private Health Insurance

- November 2022
2022 IPSOS €2,400
Benchmarking SME Loan Price (Not yet published- work in progress) 2023 SETR Oxera Consulting LLP €49,000
SBCI - Attitudes of SME Owners and Business Advisors to Business Finance

-March 2021
2021 Mercator Marketing Research Ltd €21,875
SBCI – Farmers Appetite for Investment

-March 2021
2021 Behaviours & Attitudes €37,487
Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland 2019 - SBCI External Review

-May 2020
2020 EY €120,000
Illegal Tobacco Products Research Surveys 2021

– May 2022
2021 Ipos MRBI €39,425*
Office of the Revenue Commissioners

*Note in relation to cost: The increase between 2021 and 2022 is primarily driven by the timing of when invoices were paid in the calendar year.
Illegal Tobacco Products Research Surveys 2022 – published April 2023 2022 Ipos MRBI €97,378*

Details of external consultant reports commissioned by my Department since 2020, including cost of same, company involved and publication date by report are set out in the table below.

*The costs of the SME Credit Demand Survey are recouped from Bank of Ireland (BOI) and Allied Irish Bank (AIB).

Title of Report

and Publication Date
Year Consultant/Company Cost (excl VAT)
The changing nature of outbound royalties from Ireland and their impact on the taxation of the profits of US multinationals

- May 2021
2021 Mr Seamus Coffey €4,800
The nature of outbound flows of direct investment income from Ireland

– May 2022
2022 Mr Seamus Coffey €4,800
Cross-Border Employments

(external research which is ongoing)
2022 ESRI c. €60,000

(Department of Finance/ESRI Joint Research)
Review of Help to Buy

-September 2022
2022 Mazars €64,300
Report on the Drivers of Cost and Availability of Finance for Residential Development

-April 2023
2022 KPMG €80,000
Retail Banking Review Technical Paper - International Comparison

– 29 November 2022
2022 Deloitte € 96,800
Consumer Banking Survey

- April 2022
2022 Behaviour and Attitudes €61,800
Credit Demand Survey

-September 2021
2021 Behaviour and Attitudes €56,300*
Credit Demand Survey

-February 2022
2022 Behaviour and Attitudes €56,300*
Credit Demand Survey

-September 2022
2022 Behaviour and Attitudes €56,300*
Credit Demand Survey

-January 2023
2023 Behaviour and Attitudes €56,300*
The ESRI has been contracted to carry out research to identify and develop tools which will better enable consumers to switch to better value financial services. A final report will be presented when the research concludes. Two interim reports have been published to date:

·Switching activity in retail financial markets in Ireland, (ESRI Research Series 161)

– April 2023

·Who Switches and Why? A Diagnostic Survey of Retail Financial Services in Ireland (ESRI Working Paper 748)

– April 2023
2021 ESRI The campaign is being funded entirely by AIB and PTSB at a cost of €227,160 (ex VAT).

The Department of Finance has commissioned the research as part of a range of competition measures agreed with the European Commission to raise awareness and promote customer switching in the retail financial product area.

These measures were agreed in the context of the EU restructuring plans for AIB and PTSB.

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