Department spent €102.8m on Deloitte over six years for IT and digital services

Figures show millions spent on digital services as opposition calls for greater in-house IT capacity across the public sector

The department spent €102.8m on Deloitte services between 2020 and 2025, with expenditure peaking at €22.2m in 2024. File picture

The Department of Social Protection has spent over €100m on consultancy and IT services from Deloitte over the last six years.

The department spent €102.8m on Deloitte services between 2020 and 2025, with expenditure peaking at €22.2m in 2024.

The spending covered a range of services, with the largest outlay going towards web services, including digital product development and production support.

Expenditure on digital product development totalled €19.4m between 2022 and 2025, while €11.2m was spent on production support between 2023 and 2025. No money had been spent on these services prior to this.

Deloitte also provided ICT support for MyGovID, for which the department spent €17.8m over the six-year period.

Social Democrats TD Eoin Hayes said he was “taken aback” by the high level of spending, describing it as “absolutely shocking”.

“It’s clear that in this particular case, and perhaps in many others, the State is essentially outsourcing much of its ordinary business to private interests and is completely beholden to making private firms rich to order to perform its core functions,” Mr Hayes said.

“That’s a gross level of mismanagement of the public sector and it’s extremely bad value for taxpayers.”

Social Democrats TD Eoin Hayes said he was 'taken aback' by the high level of spending, describing it as 'absolutely shocking'. File picture: Leon Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Mr Hayes, the Social Democrats' spokesperson on social protection, said the Government needed to build its own capacity to deliver programmes internally.

“Especially in the case of internal information technology, none of this is rocket science. There are well-established norms internationally for the public sector to build and maintain proper infrastructure,” he said.

Mr Hayes called for an audit of all external firms used by the department.

“Any euro unnecessarily spent on this in his department is a euro not going to those in consistent poverty like lone parents, disabled people, or older people living alone,” he added.

A spokesperson for the department said over €27bn has been spent on providing social protection services in 2024, with payments being made “securely every week without fail”.

“All of the services provided by the Department of social Protection are highly IT dependent and as a consequence, the department is one of the largest IT organisations in the State,” the spokesperson said.

“Expenditure on ICT is an investment in assuring that the social protection system that supports so many of our citizens works efficiently and reliably.

“A central governance process ensures that there is a robust ongoing monitoring of expenditure on projects and that they deliver value for money.

“The department is satisfied that it has achieved value for money from its expenditure on consultancy services over the last five years.”

The spokesperson added that Deloitte works alongside internal IT staff, saying that some services can be only available from “specialist IT agencies”.

A spokesperson for Deloitte said: “Deloitte is not in a position to comment on these client engagements.”