Departmental Bodies

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 March 2012

Tuesday, 27 March 2012

Questions (115, 116, 117, 118)

Jonathan O'Brien

Question:

105 Deputy Jonathan O’Brien asked the Taoiseach if he will provide a breakdown of fees paid to counsel during each of the past five years by the Office of the Chief State Solicitor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14924/12]

Written answers

The Taoiseach

The answer is as follows:

Year	Counsel		Amount
2007	Senior	€7,634,574	€15,118,784
Junior	€7,477,038
Counsel Travel1	€6,812
2008	Senior	€8,313,321	€17,786,200
Junior	€9,465,914
Counsel Travel	€6,965
2009	Senior	€6,705,959	€16,136,402
Junior	€9,416,755
Counsel Travel	€13,688
2010	Senior	€4,624,971	€12,372,056
Junior	€7,732,952
Counsel Travel	€14,133
2011	Senior	€3,696,641	€10,267,720
Junior	€6,287,202
Counsel Travel	€10,877

1Counsel Travel includes the cost of flights and accommodation for Counsel who travel to the Court of Justice of the European Union. Travel expenses are not paid to Counsel within Ireland.

Management of the expenditure in relation to Counsel Fees from 2008 outturn to 2011 outturn has seen a reduction in spend of 42%. The Office will continue to tightly control expenditure in this area.

Jonathan O'Brien

Question:

106 Deputy Jonathan O’Brien asked the Taoiseach if he will provide a breakdown of general law expenses form the Office of the Chief State Solicitor for each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14925/12]

The Taoiseach

The answer is as follows:

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Legal Expenses1	€1,715,362	€920,779	€671,436	€498,049	€523,115
Law Searches	€114,308	€122,225	€104,342	€41,330	€72,816
Legal Cost Accountants	€449,125	€568,186	€371,259	€386,279	€490,529
Stenographers Fees	€709,804	€365,353	€270,915	€330,633	€293,595
Medical Fees	€121,738	€45,888	€44,950	€59,892	€55,764
Attorney General’s Scheme	€1,648,162	€2,949,225	€2,121,315	€2,625,596	€4,087,730
Total	€4,758,498	€4,971,656	€3,584,216	€3,941,778	€5,523,549

1Legal Expenses comprise of Solicitor Costs and Services, Witness expenses and engineers fees.

Jonathan O'Brien

Question:

107 Deputy Jonathan O’Brien asked the Taoiseach if he will provide a breakdown of administration, non-pay related, in the Offices of the Chief State Solicitor during each of the last three years. [14926/12]

The Taoiseach

The answer is as follows:

Non Pay Subhead	2009	2010	2011
Travel and Subsistence	€51,289.34	€56,558.26	€61,373.29
Incidental Expenses	€873,197.11	€946,824.14	€991,613.81
Postal and Telecoms	€395,415.90	€368,702.59	€339,087.57
Office machinery and other office supplies	€771,531.61	€738,569.81	€715,516.51
Office Premises Expenses	€392,558.93	€359,189.90	€445,269.84
Consultancy	€13,657.88	€18,237.88	€19,786.40
Local State Solicitors Services	€149,285.16	€240,816.05	€146,796.81
	€2,646,935.93	€2,728,898.63	€2,719,444.23

Jonathan O'Brien

Question:

108 Deputy Jonathan O’Brien asked the Taoiseach if he will provide a breakdown of moneys spent by the Office of the Chief State Solicitor on external legal services over each of the past three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14927/12]

The Taoiseach

The answer is as follows:

Year	Amount
2009	€149,285
2010	€240,816
2011	€146,797

These payments are in relation to work carried out by the local State Solicitors in relation to ministerial prosecutions around the country. Ministerial prosecutions comprise mainly of social welfare and agriculture-related prosecutions.