DAFM spent nearly €4.8m on external consultants in 2025
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) spent almost €4.8 million on external consultants last year.
In response to a parliamentary question from Fine Gael TD John Clendennen, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon confirmed the department had 81 consultancy contracts last year.
By comparison, DAFM spent over €5.5 million on 96 external consultant contracts in 2024, which was up from €4.6 million in 2023 relating to 59 contracts.
| Year | Number of Consultancy Contracts | Annual Spend |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 59 | €4,657,772 |
| 2024 | 96 | €5,565,316 |
| 2025 | 81 | €4,775,656 |
Minister Heydon said the largest individual consultancy engagements in the past three years were with Ernst & Young.
The value of the contracts were €1,255,000 in 2023, €1,525,000 in 2024, and €1,540,000 in 2025.
These payments were in respect of European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) Annual Accounts certification.
"My department seeks to minimise the use of consultants and only engages consultancy companies when particular additional expertise is required for delivery of the services which support the business processes of the department.
"Such services are used in areas where the department does not have the necessary expertise or internal capacity to deliver the services and where it would not make practical, operational or economic sense to build up this capability within the department," the minister said.
Minister Heydon said that in certain cases employing the services of external consultants by DAFM is "necessary to satisfy auditing and EU regulatory requirements as to independent review".
"All contracts are negotiated with a view to achieving best value for money and keeping expenditure to a minimum," he added.
