Departmental Expenditure

Wednesday, 12 July 2023

Questions (101)

Seán Sherlock

Question:

101. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the amount paid by his Department in 2022 and to date in 2023 on outside or third-party reports of a technical nature or qualitative and quantitative nature, by payee, in tabular form. [34467/23]

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Written answers

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment

My Department considers sourcing outside or third-party reports in cases where there is not the necessary expertise to deliver the report in-house, in cases where an external assessment is deemed essential, or in cases where a project must be completed within a short time scale, and although the expertise or experience may be available in-house, performing the task would involve a prohibitive opportunity cost.

My Department complies with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform's guidelines for engagements of consultants by the civil service, having regard to public procurement guidelines.

In 2022, my Department paid €589,299 to third-parties or consultancy firms for their services in preparing technical or qualitative and quantitative reports. The cost by payee is set out in tabular form below:

Payee	Technical Report	Expenditure in 2022 (€)
KPMG Future Analytics	Trends, Opportunities, Challenges, and Drivers of Change, Future of the Irish Retail Sector	9,815
Grant Thornton	Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund Review	8,530
ESRI	Joint DETE-ESRI Research Programme: The Productivity Challenge and Its Interaction with Climate, Digitalisation and Human Capital	94,109
Grant Thornton	Development of an Evidence Base to Support the Development of a National Clustering Policy and Framework	48,737
Insight Statistical Consulting	Annual Employment Survey 2021	14,815
Insight Statistical Consulting	Annual Business Survey of Economic Impact 2020	49,445
SQW Limited	Review of the Future Growth Loan Scheme	18,287
OECD	Recent Developments in Entrepreneurship Training: Implications for Inclusive Entrepreneurship in Ireland	25,000
KPMG	Midlands Ireland Value Proposition	7,485
KPMG	Economic analysis of the agri-food sector in the North-East region	11,377
Amarach Research	Survey of Public Attitudes to Trade and Inward Investment	22,632
SQW Limited	Evaluation of State Supports for Equity Investment in Start ups	51,009
Indecon	International Financial Services – Expert Group on future Skills Needs (EGFSN) Report	60,220
Cruinn Advisory	Skills Needs in the Biopharma Sector - EGFSN Report	47,970
Landfall Strategy Group	Review of Industrial & Enterprise Policy in Small Advanced Economies and Implications for Irish Enterprise Policy	25,000
Tipperary Energy Agency	Shannon Estuary Taskforce: Assessment of Opportunities for Decarbonisation of Process Heat	15,160
Tyndall National Institute	Shannon Estuary Taskforce: Expert assessment for the scaling up of rooftop PV	29,176
Ernst & Young	Consultant’s report on organisational capacity and agility (Consumer Policy)	50,532

To date in 2023, my Department has paid €238,636 to third-parties or consultancy firms for their services in preparing technical or qualitative and quantitative reports. The cost by payee is set out in tabular form below:

Payee	Technical Report	Paid to date 2023 €
Insight Statistical Consulting	Annual Business Survey of Economic Impact (ABSEI) 2022	14,834
SQW Limited	Evaluation of State Supports for Equity Investment in Ireland	51,009
G&D GEOSOLUTIONS	Shannon Estuary Taskforce: Floating Windfarms assessment	29,336
Tipperary Energy Agency	Shannon Estuary Taskforce: Assessment of Opportunities for Decarbonisation of Process Heat	15,160
KPMG	Economic analysis of the agri-food sector in the North-East region	11,378
Second Edge Technology Solutions	Midlands ICT Cluster Action Plan	17,165
Indecon Consultants	Trade and the Digital Transition	24,754
OECD	Globalisation of start-ups via incubators and accelerators	75,000