Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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91. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 2148 of 4 November 2025 to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in which he confirmed that, although not required by statute, his Department voluntarily publishes its annual consultancy spending online in the interest of transparency and accessibility, if his Department operates a similar practice; if not, whether consideration will be given to adopting this approach as a transparency measure consistent with the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies and wider open-government principles; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [68452/25]

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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92. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence further to Parliamentary Question No. 2148 of 4 November 2025 to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in which he confirmed that, although not required by statute, her Department voluntarily publishes its annual consultancy spending online in the interest of transparency and accessibility, if her Department operates a similar practice; if not, whether consideration will be given to adopting this approach as a transparency measure consistent with the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies and wider open-government principles; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [68454/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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My Department provides a range of publicly accessible information in relation to its expenditure across all elements.

The latest audited financial statements of the agencies under the remit of my Department can be found on my Departments website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-defence/organisation-information/latest-financial-details-from-the-department-of-defence/.

The audited Appropriation Accounts of my Department are published on the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General's website. My Department also publishes details of Defence Vote Expenditure by category annually on the website in our Annual Report. Other routinely published information is also available on my Department's website including details of Purchase Orders for goods and services valued at more than €20,000 which includes those above that threshold for consultancy companies.

There are three bodies under the aegis of my Department, all of which are funded from my Department's voted expenditure and are reported on as such. Those bodies are the Army Pensions Board, established under the Army Pensions Act 1927, the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces (ODF), established pursuant to the provisions of the Ombudsman (Defence Forces) Act 2004 and the External Oversight Body of the Defence Forces (EOB), which was placed on a Statutory basis on 1 December 2024.