Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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932. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht his Department's expenditure on media training in each of the years 2015 to 2025; the firms contracted to provide training; and the position or grade of those availing of training for example minister, secretary general, principal officer and so on. [37055/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Since its establishment in 2017 no such training has been organised for anyone in my Department.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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933. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht his Department's expenditure on media consultancy in each of the years 2015 to 2025; the consultancy firms involved; and the nature of each contract, in tabular form. [37073/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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My Department was established in 2017. The information requested by the Deputy is in the table below.

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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934. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of purchase orders processed by his Department in 2023 that were not included in the published reports of purchase orders over €20,000; the number of purchase orders excluded due to their value falling below the €20,000 threshold, and the total combined value of those purchase orders; and the number of purchase orders excluded because they related to transactions other than goods or services (for example, grants-in-aid, reimbursements), in line with reporting conventions. [37238/25]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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My Department includes all payments over €20,000 for goods, services and works procured and paid by the Department in the reports referred to by the Deputy. In 2023 there were a total of 820 payments for goods, services and works which were below the €20,000 threshold, with a total value of €715,379.

The vast majority of the Department's voted expenditure is utilised for grant payments under the schemes operated, such as the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund, Town and Village Renewal Scheme, CLÁR, the Community Services Programme and the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme. In total there were 5,673 grant payments processed in 2023 with a total value of €416,131,804. It is important to note that these are discretionary payments to grantees, rather than payments relating to purchases following the procurement of goods, services or works. The Department's Appropriation Account for 2023, which is available online, provides detail on the expenditure incurred by the Department.