Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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106. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of external consultancy contracts entered into by his Department in the past five years, including the original estimated cost, the final cost, and the reasoning for contracting this work rather than using internal resources. [54325/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In total, my Department has entered into 30 external consultancy contracts over the past five years, some of which remain ongoing. The original estimated cost of these consultancies was €6,756,780. The actual expenditure to date is €2,369,643. External consultancy is only engaged when there is a clear need for specialised expertise and the appropriate skills and resources are not available internally.

There are three bodies under the aegis of my Department; the Army Pensions Board, the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces and the External Oversight Body of the Defence Forces (EOB), which was placed on a Statutory basis on 1 December 2024. Expenditure incurred in relation to these bodies is included in the totals provided above.