FF call for PAC to investigate Government's spend on consultancy reports

Fianna Fail is calling for the Public Accounts Committee to investigate the government's spending on external consultancy reports.

The request comes after it was revealed through a series of Parliamentary Questions that the Government has spent over €20m on such reports since coming to power.

It amounts to 532 consultancy reports across all departments.

The average spend is €37,000 on each, however some are much higher, with one report alone costing over €2.m in the Department of the Environment.

Deputy Sean Fleming is Fianna Fail's spokesperson on public expenditure and reform and a member of the PAC, he voiced his party's concern on the Government's consultancy bill today.

"This is something that we need to look at because we have no idea whether any of these represent value for money, they're all subjective," said Deputy Fleming.

"I suspect if we got the list of all the people who provided the consultancy reports, that eight or 10 company names would pop up all the time because they probably have the inside track and Government officials believe that they will do the best job.