164 Mr. V. Brady asked the Minister for Education if he will give details of the number of parliamentary questions tabled to him for the year 1991 and the total cost involved; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

The number of parliamentary questions tabled to my Department in 1991 was in the region of 1,050. Unfortunately the time and expense necessary in terms of research and deployment of personnel to isolate the cost of a single reply is prohibitive and I am not in a position to let the Deputy have a definitive figure for the total costs involved.

However, an extensive survey of Government Departments in 1982 estimated the cost of answering a Parliamentary Question at about £40. When inflation is taken into account, I am advised that the cost today would be about £64.