Department paid over €14m to consultants since 1997

The Department of Health has paid out more than €14 million in contracts to external consultants since the current Government came into office in 1997, according to new figures.

Figures from the department show that more than 220 separate contracts were awarded to consultancy companies, public relations firms and other advisory bodies since 1997.

The figures, issued in reply to a Dáil question originally submitted last June by Richard Bruton of Fine Gael, only relate to consultancy contracts commissioned by the Department of Health itself.

They do not include contracts commissioned by the former health boards or other health-service bodies.

Last week it emerged that the former health boards had paid out about €60 million to consultants Deloitte and Touche for work on computer projects, which have now been suspended.

Among the largest contracts awarded over the period was one for €1.274 million to Accenture in 2003.

This was for work on the civil-registration system and on a modernisation programme for the General Records office.

The Department of Health said the amount was in respect of support and maintenance of software supplied and for software development on an ongoing basis.

The figures show that €859,800 was paid to to the Centre for Health Promotion Studies in Galway in 2003 for a national health and lifestyle survey and report.

They also reveal that Deloitte and Touche was paid €615,756 in 2000 by the Department of Health for a value-for-money audit of the Irish health system.

The figures also show that Prospectus Strategy Consultants received €573,000 for their report in 2002 on the health-board system, which formed one of the main planks of the current health service reform programme.