The cost of hiring mediators for the Minister for Education's recent nationwide consultation exercise averaged 2,700 per session, figures obtained by The Irish Times have revealed.
The majority of the meetings were chaired by RTÉ broadcasters. Six were chaired by Joe Duffy, five by John Bowman, and two by John Creedon. The remaining four were chaired by Brenda Power.
According to the Department of Education, the hiring of chairpersons for the 17 public Your Education System (YES) meetings around the State cost a total of 46,700.
Each meeting lasted approximately two hours, with some also necessitating a significant amount of travel by those involved.
The total cost is understood to include all expenses and mileage, as well as preparatory work and briefing sessions.
Mr Bowman yesterday refused to comment when contacted by The Irish Times, while Mr Duffy and Mr Creedon were unavailable for comment.
The revelation comes as RTÉ is preparing to reveal for the first time the salaries paid to its presenters. It has also announced plans for a new charter that will include strict restrictions on outside work.
The YES meetings, which formed part of Mr Dempsey's nationwide consultation process on the future of education, took place earlier this year.
Some 5,000 people are thought to have attended the meetings around the State, at a total cost of approximately 627,000 to date, the figures show. They also reveal that one of Dublin's leading PR companies, Carr Communications, received €64,764 for its participation.
This covered advice and assistance on publicising the process and encouraging public participation, and professional advice and personnel support at the public meetings.
Carr Communications, headed by Ms Terry Prone, was recently sold for approximately 8 million in a management buyout.
The largest proportion of money for the YES process - €202,901 - was spent on advertising, with a further 131,277 on printing and distribution costs.
Other costs associated with the process include:
27,774 for room hire, tea and coffee;
50,741 for sound systems and the recording of public meetings;
59,679 for the secretariat;
30,865 in miscellaneous costs, including the press launch, briefing sessions, an introductory video, paper and biros;
approximately 8,000 in hotel and accommodation costs; and
1,802 for sign language interpretation.
The Department of Education said the process is to be fully funded from its administrative budget, meaning it should not affect funding for education programmes.