Vol. 461 No. 7
126 Mr. Killeen asked the Minister for Finance the legal costs that were awarded to the Office of Public Works arising from various court cases pertaining to the Burren National Park project, County Clare; whether these costs have been paid; and the action, if any, that is being taken to recover the amount outstanding. [3929/96]
127 Mr. Killeen asked the Minister for Finance the legal costs that were paid by his Department to the Office of Public Works lawyers and other legal teams arising from various court cases pertaining to the Burren National Park project, County Clare. [3930/96]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 126 and 127 together.
It is a matter for the Attorney General to engage members of the legal profession to represent a Department of State in court proceedings against them and the costs of engagement are met from his Vote. Accordingly, no legal fees were paid by my Department in respect of the Office of Public Works legal team which represented them in the court cases referred to. The cost of the Office of Public Works' legal representation in respect of these court cases, attributable to the Attorney General's Vote, amounted to £47,420.00.
Where costs are awarded against the State in a court case, the amount payable is usually agreed between the Attorney General (or the Chief State Solicitor's Office acting on his behalf) and the other party's legal team. In the event of a dispute, the amount can be fixed by the Taxing Master. In either case, the amount is paid out of the Vote of the Department/State Authority involved. In the case of the Burren National Park project, the amount paid out of the Office of Public Works Vote was £194,765.51, which was the amount agreed between the respective parties, following negotiations. This amount covers both the High Court and Supreme Court cases as well as the initial injuction hearing.
Costs were awarded to the Office of Public Works in the High Court in respect of the last of these cases. However, the awarding of costs in that case was appealed to the Supreme Court, and this appeal is still pending. The issue of costs cannot be finalised until the appeal is heard.
