272 Mr. V. Brady asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs 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.

In 1991 the Minister for Foreign Affairs answered a total of 595 questions of which 28 were priority, 308 oral or lottery and 259 written. It is not possible to give details of the number of Parliamentary Questions tabled in 1991 because no record is kept of questions disallowed or transferred to other Departments.

A precise statement of the costs involved in responding to Parliamentary Questions is not available. However, I would refer the Deputy to a reply given by the Minister for Finance to a Parliamentary Question on 13 February this year. Basing his answer on a 1982 survey of Government Departments and updating the figure to allow for inflation, the Minister for Finance suggested an average cost of about £64 per question. If this figure were applied, the total cost for the Department of Foreign Affairs of replying to Parliamentary Questions in 1991 would be £38,080.