OPW spent €17,000 on consultants for committee hearings, more than any other State body

Irish Times

3 days ago

The
Office of Public Works
(
OPW
) spent more on external consultant advice preparing for
Oireachtas
committee hearings last year than any other State body or government department has since 2021, according to new data.
The total spend of €17,211 came as the OPW faced rolling controversies over the €336,000
Dáil
bike shed, the €1.4 million security hut at the
Department of Finance
and a €490,000 bill for rebuilding a wall outside the
Workplace Relations Commission
.
Figures released to
Social Democrats
TD Aidan Farrelly show that in total, public bodies spent €155,532 to outside firms helping to prepare them for visits to Oireachtas committees between 2021 and earlier this month – with a handful of consultancies getting the lion's share of the spending.
The OPW outlay was the highest single-year spend by any body covered by the data released. It was split between two communications specialist firms – €3,731 for RGH Consultancy and €13,480 for Gibney Communications. RGH Consultancy is led by Gerard Howlin, who is an Irish Times contributor.
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Mr Farrelly said he was not surprised to see the OPW top of the list given the controversies it has faced. He criticised the use of outside consultants, saying: 'The witnesses are all seasoned officials and should be well able to respond openly to elected representatives without third-party interventions.'
The OPW faced four committee hearings in 2024 – three of which occurred after the cost of the bike shed emerged in September.
The OPW said in a statement that it has a wide remit and an annual budget of €700 million, dealing with a large volume of projects across flood-relief management, heritage and managing 2,500 State properties.
It said staff appearing at committees 'are expected to succinctly address a wide range of topics, including all information relating to the OPW's expenditure, as well as detailed accounts of the significant variety of projects under its remit'.
The OPW said the spend was on 'communication support' for staff appearing before committees rather than assisting with further queries or correspondence.
The next highest annual cost for external advice was for the
Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
(DPER), which purchased general training from PR firm The Communications Clinic to the value of €16,950 in 2022 – although this covered training for officials from other departments as well.
The OPW also had some of the highest bills in previous years, including another €9,610 to Gibney Communications and €610 to RGH Consultancy in 2022 – again for general training. Overall, it spent €28,489 on external consultants, making it one of the highest-spending bodies overall, as well as having the single most expensive year.
DPER had the highest overall spending across the period covered by the data, spending €31,220 in total – although again, some of that picked up the tab for civil servants in other departments.
Horse Racing Ireland
spent €12,950 for advice in advance of visits to the
Public Accounts Committee
and agriculture committees, with consultancy firms
Teneo
and Vulcan Consulting, led by former minister for European affairs
Lucinda Creighton
, providing services.
Pobal
, the social inclusion agency, spent €12,764 preparing to face TDs and senators, all to Dublin firm MKC Communications across 2021-2024. Pobal said the work related to four committee appearances covering training for nine senior managers and strategic preparation for the hearings.
Meanwhile, the
Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman
spent €10,612 preparing for various committees in 2023 and 2024.
The data show that two firms accounted for the majority of the spend by state bodies preparing to visit Leinster House committee rooms: Gibney Communications, which was paid a total of €46,902 across the period concerned, and The Communications Clinic, which was paid €51,254.