There has been a “significant jump” in the number of consultancy reports commissioned by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) which have not been published publicly, according to the Independent TD, Carol Nolan.
The Independent TD for Laois Offaly said latest figures show that from 2019 to 2023 DAFM spent more than €7 million on reports categorised or designated as “not for external publication”.
According to Deputy Nolan information supplied to her by the office of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine highlights the total number of reports commissioned and the cost incurred from 2011 to 2023.
The Independent TD said that she accepts that DAFM may not always “have the expertise necessary for some issues and that it must engage expertise elsewhere”.
However, she believes that there are questions to be answered around why there has been an increase in the number of reports that have been designated as “not for external publication”.
Deputy Nolan said: “It is not clear to me why there should be such a lack of transparency around these reports, and why the taxpayer, who is funding them, cannot have access to the research or results that have found.
“It is very easy to say that they involve sensitive information but unfortunately as they will never be published, we have no way of verifying that or indeed of assessing the quality of the recommendations made in any of these reports.”
In a response to the Independent TD, DAFM stated that it “seeks to minimise the use of consultants and only engages consultancy firms when particular additional expertise is required for delivery of the services which support the business processes of the department”.
According to Deputy Nolan from 2019 the number of reports “marked not for external publication” was calculated at being “in the high twenties with a concomitant rise in costs.”