Over £890,000 has been paid by the Department of Health to private public relations consultants in the last three years, new figures show.

The fees paid last year came to £422,995. That compares with a spend of £265,599 in 1999 and £205,921 the year before.

The payments covered areas such as health promotion campaigns, European drug prevention week, a healthy living survey, the National Children's Strategy as well as direct PR support for the Health Minister.

While the Department has a publicly funded press office, it often engages private PR firms.