Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 January 2014
23. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on the overall bill for legal services incurred by the State; the steps he is taking to co-ordinate actions to achieve greater value for money; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2679/14]
View answerIn recent years, with a view to achieving significant reductions in legal costs, my Department has been actively engaged with the State's Law Offices and the Department of Justice and Equality, which are critically involved in the engagement of legal services. Prior to 2011, two separate reductions, each amounting to 8%, had been effected in regard to legal fees. In the period from 2011 onwards, these reductions have been augmented by a range of measures including:
1. a reduction of 10% in Criminal Legal Aid fees;
2. changes in regard to one day fees in the District Court, rates payable in respect of travel and subsistence and the rate paid for sentence fees in the Circuit and Higher Courts;
3. the introduction of a pre-approval process prior to the engagement of expert witnesses and a time limit of 24 months for submission of fee claims;
4. a further 10% reduction in brief and refresher fees paid by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in parallel with reductions in fees payable under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme; and
5. a 10% reduction in Tribunal fees.
With the objective of further reducing legal costs, my Department has supported the introduction in both the Chief State Solicitor's Office and that of the Director of Public Prosecutions of enhanced mechanisms for rigorous examination of claims. These enhanced mechanisms and reductions in fee levels have resulted in a dramatic decline in expenditure on legal fees - for example, expenditure incurred by the Chief State Solicitor's Office on fees to counsel has been reduced by 46% since 2008.
It is intended to examine the level of legal fees across Government Departments and agencies in the light of the relevant expenditure allocations decided by the Government in the context of the recently-published Revised Estimates Volume 2014. It is envisaged that my Department will engage with the relevant parties with a view to achieving the necessary adjustments to ensure adherence to such allocations.
In addition, my Department, through the Office of Government Procurement, has a particular responsibility to assist public bodies that procure legal services with the objective of leveraging resources in order to achieve best value for money. In that regard the Office of Government Procurement will work across Government Departments and Agencies to examine legal services spend across the public service, will conduct a review of the markets for the various different services involved such as employment law, conveyancing, tax law, etc. and determine appropriate commercial strategies to address the markets.
