Kildare TD Demands Accountability Over Government's €37m Consultancy Spend

Monday, 6 January 2025 10:06

By Martin Osborne

Aidan Farrelly TD said government departments should utilise in-house expertise to save on costs.

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration, and Youth accounted for the largest share of spending to consultants, totalling almost €10m.

The outgoing coalition government spent over €37 million on consultancy services in the last two years, sparking criticism from a Kildare TD.

Official figures, disclosed in response to parliamentary questions from former Kildare North TD Catherine Murphy, detail expenditures on legal advice, IT services, external audits, and more.

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration, and Youth accounted for the largest share of spending, totalling almost €10m.

The figures, highlighted below, included €7.6 million paid to Deloitte for supporting the response to Ukrainian refugees.

Minister Roderic O’Gorman defended the spending, citing the urgent humanitarian response required.

Other departments also made significant expenditures:

The Department of Agriculture spent €6 million, citing EU regulatory requirements.
The Department of Transport spent €4.2 million, linking the costs to a €35 billion transport investment plan.
The Department of Higher Education allocated €3.3 million, partially for IT systems.

Catherine Murphy's successor, Kildare North Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly, expressed concern about the reliance on external consultants.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, he said: "You would expect that where there is certain expertise needed that can't be sourced internally that you'd go outside the department. But there seems to be almost a reliance on a third party. If annually there are going to be areas of work that are required to be outsourced at a premium cost, I'd like to see government departments looking to employ that expertise in-house."