Written Answers Nos. 188 - 196
188. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will provide an update on the status of the Garda investigation into fraud at Coillte Teo; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15238/13]
View answerI am informed that the Garda authorities are not aware of any ongoing Garda investigation into fraud at Coillte Teo.
189. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the progress of the commitment made in the programme for Government on amending the Official Secrets Act; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12332/13]
View answerPreliminary work is underway in my Department on the preparation of a general scheme of the Official Secrets Act (Amendment) Bill to amend the Official Secrets Act 1963 to reflect the Programme for Government commitment. It is not possible to indicate at this stage when the Bill will be published.
190. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the expected staffing level of the Insolvency Service of Ireland; when recruitment for this will be completed; the number of cases it will deal with on a monthly basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14050/13]
View answerThe expected staffing level of the Insolvency Service of Ireland is 91. It is anticipated that recruitment for the Service will be completed during the second quarter of 2013 and is being carried out as expeditiously as possible.
It is not possible at this juncture to definitively indicate the number of cases the Service will deal with on a monthly basis. As I have previously indicated to the Dáil, it is difficult to ascertain the likely demand in regard to the new debt resolution processes. However, in planning for the first full year of operation of the Insolvency Service, tentative estimate of applications has been made for the two main debt resolution processes - the Debt Settlement Arrangement and Personal Insolvency Arrangement - amounting to approximately 15,000 applications. It is also anticipated that there may be up to 3,000 bankruptcy applications during this time. This would be very significant bearing in mind that there were 33 bankruptcy adjudications in 2011 and 35 in 2012.
191. Deputy Derek Keating asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the way that tip staff in the court services are paid expenses sometimes in excess of their salary; if he will confirm that tip staff come under the Croke Park agreement; the justification that is made for this expense to be paid to them; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17741/13]
View answer192. Deputy Derek Keating asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the way court tip staff or criers are doubling their pay due to expenses that are afforded to them; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that last year tip staff claimed €990,000 in expenses and in 2011 more than €2.7 million was claimed which showed an average of €13,200 for 75 court tip staff; his plans to address this expense; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17740/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 191 and 192 together.
The management and administration of the courts including responsibility for the provision of information is a matter for the Courts Service. However, in order to be of assistance to the Deputy, I have had enquiries made and the Courts Service has informed me that a total of 74 tipstaff are employed by the Courts Service in the grades of Usher and Crier who act as personal assistants to Judges of the High Court and Circuit Court respectively in the carrying out of their official functions. They are civil servants covered by the Croke Park Agreement and are entitled to claim for travel and subsistence incurred while on official duties and overtime in respect of extra attendance. Among their duties are maintaining proper order in the courtroom, managing the judge’s chambers, the provision of personal security to the judge and driving the judge when needed. All expenses are paid in accordance with Civil Service regulations and subject to verification and audit.
I am informed that the total amount paid in expenses to ushers and criers was €561,043 in 2012 and €635,536 in 2011, totalling €1.2m. Subsistence expenses are incurred in respect of expenses related to necessary absence from the normal place of work on official duty. The necessity for subsistence expenses arise when these staff members must travel with their Judges to Court sittings at various locations around the country. The amount of expenses paid varies widely and is very much related to the jurisdiction within which individual Judges work, the size of the geographical area covered by the judge, number of locations of court sittings and length of hearings. Ushers and Criers are also entitled to Extra Attendance payments in respect of overtime necessarily worked. A flat rate is applied no matter when the extra attendance is provided. I am informed that all payments made are subject to verification and audit. It should be noted that these permanent support staff are only available to judges appointed prior to 1 January, 2012. Under legislation sponsored by my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, support to judges appointed after that date is provided by legally qualified Judicial Assistants who are engaged on temporary contracts of no longer than two years duration and are equipped to carry out a range of legal research functions in addition to personal assistant functions.
193. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to introduce an amendment to section 37 of the Employment Equality Act that is needed to enshrine in legislation the rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual teachers; and his plans to include provision that will also protect the rights of transgender teachers. [17568/13]
View answerI refer the Deputy to my replies to Parliamentary Questions No. 54456 of 4 December 2012, No. 2999 of 22 January 2013, No. 4077 of 5 February 2013 and No. 10664 of 27 February 2013. As I explained in response to these previous questions, the Government has undertaken in its Programme for Government to ensure that people of non-faith or minority religious backgrounds and publically identified lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people should not be deterred from training or taking up employment as teachers in the State. I have previously expressed concern about the potential impact of section 37 of the Employment Equality Acts on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons. This section is designed to allow schools and other institutions to maintain their religious ethos. It was examined by the Supreme Court in 1996 when the Employment Equality Bill of 1996 was referred to it under Article 26 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court found that it is a reasonable balancing in legislation of the different rights involved, including chiefly the right to earn a living and the rights to freedom of religion and association. I am concerned however that, in practice, the balance is not a fair one and that in practice this provision can operate in a way that is unfair to LGBT persons. I consider that an extensive consultative process and formal assessment of the options should be undertaken. On 16 April, I announced the names of 14 new members designate of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. In advance of legislation to establish the new Commission, the members designate will take up their positions on the two existing bodies that are being merged, the Equality Authority and the Human Rights Commission. I will be meeting the Commissioners shortly. As I have previously explained, I intend to ask them to examine this issue as a priority. I hope they will complete this consultation process quickly and report on their views and recommendations to the two Ministers centrally concerned, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn and myself as the Minister for Justice and Equality and to the House. I am committed, once this necessary consultation process is completed, to bringing forward Government proposals for any necessary anti-discrimination amendment to this provision. In this context, the Government has welcomed the Private Members' Employment Equality (Amendment) (No.2) Bill which has passed Second Stage in the Seanad. During the Second Stage reading of the Bill, my colleague Minister of State Kathleen Lynch signalled to the House the Government's intention to take forward this Bill, with any amendments that might be needed, with Government support for enactment.
194. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the level of cost saving to enterprises arising from the changes to legal services. [18628/13]
View answerThe Legal Services Regulation Bill 2011 gives legislative expression to the commitment in the Programme for Government to "establish independent regulation of the legal professions to improve access and competition, make legal costs more transparent and ensure adequate procedures for addressing consumer complaints". Furthermore, as a sectoral objective under the EU/IMF/ECB Troika Memorandum of Understanding, it supports the objectives of structural reform, national competitiveness and early economic recovery, building on the relevant recommendations of the Legal Costs Working Group and the Competition Authority.
The Bill, which has completed Second Stage,is due to commence Committee Stage in July and is a key component of the Government's strategy to reduce legal costs in this country by way of increasing our competitiveness. The Legal Services Regulation Bill makes extensive provision, particularly in Part 9, for a new and enhanced legal costs regime that will bring greater transparency to how legal costs are charged along with a better balance between the interests of legal practitioners and those of their clients. The Bill sets out, for the first time in legislation, a series of Legal Costs Principles. These are contained in Schedule One and enumerate the various matters that may be taken into account if disputed costs are submitted for adjudication. These cost transparency measures will apply to barristers as well as to solicitors and will enable those availing of legal services to identify costs and their basis more clearly, including by way of comparison with other possible legal service providers.
Under the Bill it will no longer be permissible to set fees as a specified percentage or proportion of damages payable to a client from contentious business. It will no longer be permissible to charge Junior Counsel fees as a specified percentage or proportion of Senior Counsel fees. Legal practitioners will be obliged to provide more detailed information about legal costs from the outset of their dealings with clients. This will be in the form of a Notice written in clear language which must be provided when a legal practitioner takes instructions. Among other things, the Notice must, as set out in Section 90 of the Bill, disclose the costs that are involved, or, where this is not practicable, the basis upon which such costs are to be calculated. A cooling-off period is to be allowed for the consideration of costs by the client. When there are any significant developments in a case which give rise to further costs the Bill provides that a client must be duly updated and given the option of whether or not to proceed with the case in question. The Bill also provides that a new Office of the Legal Costs Adjudicator will deal with disputes about legal costs – at present these are dealt with by the Office of the Taxing-Master. The new Office, headed by a Chief Legal Costs Adjudicator, will modernise the way disputed legal costs are adjudicated with greater transparency. The Office will be empowered to prepare Legal Costs Guidelines. It will establish and maintain a publicly accessible Register of Determinations which will include the outcomes and reasons for its determinations about disputed legal costs.
Two new Taxing-Masters have been appointed by public competition under the enhanced qualification criteria of Part 14 of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011 to prepare the way for these modernisation measures. Taking account of developments in other open common law jurisdictions the Bill seeks to address the danger of Irish law firms and legal practitioners operating at a cost disadvantage while consumers of their services continue to lack the benefits of value that come with being able to shop around a range of alternative legal service providers. Several types of new alternative business structure have been, or continue to be, rolled-out in England and Wales, Scotland, Australia, Germany, Netherlands and parts of Canada in direct competition with Irish legal service providers - for example, solicitors, accountants and insurers practising as one business or "multi-disciplinary practice" providing their complementary services in a pooled and more cost-effective setting.
The Bill, therefore, contains numerous measures aimed at opening up the provision of legal services to more responsive and more competitive legal service models building on the enormous advances that have been made in supporting business technologies. In other provisions the Bill lifts existing restrictions on direct professional access to a barrister and on barristers who share premises or costs from advertising themselves as such a group. The Bill also allows that a barrister in employment may provide legal services for his or her employer. Through its extensive legal costs transparency provisions and its provision for modern and more competitive business alternatives, the Legal Services Regulation Bill is providing an opportunity to ameliorate the cost to business and other consumers of legal services while, by the same token, creating new business opportunities for the legal services sector. The Bill is, therefore, introducing structural reforms that will make legal costs far more amenable to public scrutiny and competition than they ever have been in the past. These reforms will also put us in a far better position to monitor the future impact of legal costs on business and the economy on an ongoing basis.
195. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if a 2012 agri-environment options scheme 1 payment will issue to a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20573/13]
View answerThe person named was approved for participation in the Agri-Environment Options Scheme with effect from the 1st September 2010 and full payments totalling €1,666.65 and €4,999.98 issued in respect of 2010 and 2011 respectively.
Under the EU Regulations governing the Scheme and other area-based payment schemes, a comprehensive administrative check, including cross-checks with the Land Parcel Identification System, must be completed before any payment can issue. During these checks in respect of the 2012 scheme year an overclaim was identified in relation to the claimed areas on both the Species Rich Grassland and Traditional Hay Meadow actions. Officials in my Department are currently finalising the application of the person named and I expect payment for 2012 to issue shortly.
196. Deputy Áine Collins asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on the fact that many small farmers in western Duhallow are suffering serious loss of income as most of the area is a designated special area of conservation, they cannot plant trees, put up wind turbines or draw hen harrier subsidies as this scheme is closed; the way this issue could be resolved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20625/13]
View answerThe implementation of the Birds Directive and the Habitats Directive, under which Special Protection Areas (SPA’s) and Special Areas of Conservation (SAC’s) are designated, is a matter in the first instance for the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
Farmers can be compensated under the Natura 2000 Measure of Ireland’s Rural Development Plan 2006 – 2013 for farming restrictions related SAC and SPA designation of farmland.
Natura 2000 payments are delivered through the Rural Environment Protection Scheme, and more recently through it’s successor the Agri-Environment Options Scheme (AEOS). The Natura payment rate under AEOS is €75 per hectare subject to an overall maximum farmer payment of €5,000 per calendar year in AEOS 1 and €4,000 per calendar year in AEOS 2 and AEOS 3.
