Departmental Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 October 2011

Tuesday, 25 October 2011

Questions (81, 82)

Anne Ferris

Question:

96 Deputy Anne Ferris asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide details for the years 2006 to 2011, inclusive, of the arrangements that he, any body under his aegis or State agency for which he has responsibility entered into for the obtaining of advice from a senior or junior counsel and or a firm of solicitors; the subject matter for which advice was sought; the names of the barristers and solicitors’ firms concerned and the fees paid; the nature of the work concerned; if in each case the matter was advertised for competitive tender and if not, the reason; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30969/11]

Written answers

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (Deputy Eamon Gilmore)

My Department has a Legal Division, staffed by qualified legal professionals who provide legal advice on a wide range of international legal issues. Having such "in-house" legal experts reduces the costs which would be incurred if the Department was to engage externally for similar services. The majority of other instances where legal advice and services have been required by my Department in the State during the period in question have been handled either by the Attorney General's Office or the Chief State Solicitor's Office, or have related to cases processed by the State Claims Agency. As the Deputy will be aware, Government Departments do not directly pay for the legal services provided by the Office of the Attorney General and or the Chief State Solicitor's Office or for advice from Counsel briefed by them.

Nevertheless, there are from time to time occasions where a need to engage external legal services in the State arises, where the necessary specialised expertise is not available within my Department and cannot be accessed from the AGO or the CSSO. In the period in question this occurred on three occasions, the details of which are included in the table below.

The Department's Missions abroad may have occasional requirements for legal services and these are sourced from local legal practitioners as and when required.

Year	Subject matter	Solicitor/Barrister	Fee	Nature of the work	Tendering
2006	Passport biometrics	Mason, Hayes & Curran	€39,351.75	Legal advice and associated services	Standard tendering using etenders
2006	Preparation of tender for transport provision	Ronan Daly Jermyn Solicitors	€10,315.25	Legal advice	Assigned by the CSSO
2007	EPassport	Matheson Ormsby Prentice	€1,473.78	Oversight of EPassport certification	Recommended by the CSSO

Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

97 Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the annual cost of the licensed payroll system, CorePay, to his Department. [31058/11]

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (Deputy Eamon Gilmore)

Core International license their CorePay payroll system by way of an annual maintenance and support charge on installed elements. For 2011 the charge is €20,728. New functionality has been implemented during 2011 for which additional licensing is required at a cost of €31,460. There will also be an associated additional support and maintenance charge of €3,680.