Almost €40m of taxpayers’ cash spent on consultancy

THE Government has spent almost €40million on consultancy in the past six years, new figures reveal.

More than 900 external consultant reports were commissioned by the Government in that period.

The information, revealed through a series of parliamentary questions, shows that €38million was spent on 991 reports from March 2011 to December 2017, coming to an average figure of €42,000 per paper.

Fianna Fáil has criticised the Government for spending money on reports it claims could have been carried out by civil servants.

Meath West Fianna Fáil TD Shane Cassells said: ‘€38million is a shockingly high figure to splash out on consultants when we already have an expanding civil service who should be fully equipped to run their departments.

‘These figures expose the over-reliance of the Government on expensive external reports and underlines the need to ensure the taxpayer gets value for money from these consultants.’

Altogether, 13 Government departments paid out for external reports, with the Department of Education commissioning the most at 112.

Mr Cassells said that, despite the high costs associated with creating the reports, many were never published. He said: ‘Numerous reports have gone unpublished for no specific reason despite the significant cost associated with them.

‘This includes significant reports on the Housing Assistance Payment and social housing construction... Why are these reports just left to gather dust on Government shelves?

A Fine Gael spokesman said: ‘External expert advice is sought by Government departments from time to time in order to better inform public policy. This spend breaks down as an average of about €360,000 per Government department per year.

‘Contrast this with Micheál Martin’s time in government when he spent €30million on reports while he was minister for health.’