The Department of Justice has paid almost €30 million to consultancy firms since the Government took office just over 18 months ago. One firm has been paid more than €12 million in the period.
Details of the fees have been released by the Department and reveal the services of some 80 firms or individuals have been availed of since the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, took office in June 2002.
A spokesman for the Minister last night defended the expenditure, saying because the Department has responsibility for all matters relating to justice, equality and law reform its remit is "huge".
"In respect of some of the bigger fees paid to firms a lot of the money would be for computer software and hardware, it just wouldn't be for consulting. It's very hard to separate the consulting portion so we put the whole figure in. We'd be accused of misleading the Dáil if we didn't."
Details of the expenditure were released in reply to a parliamentary question tabled by Labour's spokesman on justice, Mr Joe Costello. "There are so many firms involved in carrying out the work that it must take half of the staff of the Department to draw up these contracts and monitor progress. It's an extraordinary amount of money and I'll be looking for a further breakdown as to what these companies are doing for the money.
"If these firms are providing services for the administration of the policing and justice in the Republic of Ireland you'd think more of them would be Irish firms. There seems to be a lot of money flowing out of the country." Fujitsu was paid just over €12 million in the period. As well as its consultancy services it is providing the software for the computerised penalty points system.
The total spent by the Department since the Government was formed in June 2002 was €29.4 million. Among the top earners were Accenture: €7.5 million; Vantage Consultants: €3 million; Price Waterhouse Cooper Consortiums: €2 million.
