Public finance departments spent €7.6m on consultants in 2013

Legal and consultancy firms were the largest beneficiaries of the €7.6 million paid out last year by the Government’s two public finance departments.

New figures show the Department of Public Expenditure paid €4.3 million to consultants during 2013, while the Department of Finance spent €3.3 million on consultants during the 12- month period.

In figures provided to Independent TD Tom Fleming, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan confirmed €739,854 was paid out by his department to Matheson for legal advice relating to the acquisition and sale of Irish Life.

Arthur Cox
Mr Noonan said the largest payout by the department last year was to another legal firm, Arthur Cox, which received €1.72 million for advice on the restructuring of the Irish banking system.

Mr Noonan confirmed that between May 1st, 2011, and December 31st, 2013, Arthur Cox received a total of €5.37 million in fees from his department.

Mercer (Ireland) Ltd was paid €146,370 for its review on the remuneration practices and frameworks at the financial institutions that were subject to the Government’s bailout.

Mr Noonan said the National Asset Management Agency received €381,494 for advice it provided to the Government's Ministerial Advisory Group.

Red C Research and Marketing Ltd received €118,572 for "professional services in relation to the SME lending survey", while US-based academic Dr Anil Shivdasani received €67,360 for acting as an expert witness in a High Court case.

The figures show that Crowe Howarth received €36,580 for its review of the State’s R&D tax credit system, while PCMA Economic Consulting received €49,043 for a medium-term economic strategy.

In separate figures provided in a written Dáil response to Mr Fleming, Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin confirmed consultancy firm Accenture received €2.245 million for consultancy services for Civil Service human resources and pension shared services.

Lottery licence
Mr Howlin confirmed that Davy Corporate Finance received the second-highest amount when it received €568,875 relating to the "financial and commercial advice regarding the competition for the next National Lottery licence".

Deloitte received €462,611 relating to three contracts with one contract concerning consultancy services for the “Civil Service Banking and Financial Management Shared Services project” totalling €226,552 and a second, providing consultancy services for the “Civil Service Payroll Shared Services Project”, totalling €180,587.

The third contract – relating to consultancy services concerning public service reform – totalled €55,472.

The figures show Core International received €220,884 for technology consultancy services for the Civil Service payroll shared services project.