Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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256. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the amount paid by his Department to external legal teams, HR specialists, accountancy firms and consultants in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26229/23]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department spent a total of €1,094,589 on external legal teams, HR specialists, accountancy firms, and consultants in 2022. This amount also includes ICT consultancy.

The Department considers hiring external consultants or specialists in cases where there is not the necessary expertise to deliver the project in-house, in cases where an external assessment is deemed essential, or in cases where a project must be completed within a short time scale, and although the expertise or experience may be available in-house, performing the task would involve a prohibitive opportunity cost.

In engaging external consultants or specialists my Department complies with the Department of Public Expenditure NDP Delivery and Reform's guidelines for engagements of consultants by the civil service, having regard to public procurement guidelines.