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Departmental Legal Costs

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 April 2014

Tuesday, 15 April 2014

Questions (141)

Niall Collins

Question:

141. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the total legal costs incurred by his Department in 2011, 2012, 2013 and estimated in 2014. [17357/14]

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Written answers

My Department is responsible for two Votes, Vote 28 (Foreign Affairs and Trade) and Vote 27 (International Cooperation). The Department generally seeks advice on domestic legal matters from the Office of the Attorney General and/or the Chief State Solicitor’s Office. Depending on the subject-matter, domestic litigation is dealt with on my Department’s behalf by the Attorney General’s Office, the Chief State Solicitor’s Office or the State Claims Agency which engage lawyers to act for the Department where necessary and pays their fees. The Department has a Legal Division, which deals with matters of public international law, human rights law, and European Union law and other relevant legal issues. The Division also acts as agent for the Government before certain international courts and tribunals, such as the European Court of Human Rights. In this regard, it works closely with the Office of the Attorney General, which pays the fees of external lawyers.

The Department’s Missions abroad engage local legal advisers from time to time to deal with a range of miscellaneous matters including property and local employment law.

The amount incurred by my Department in legal costs (excluding settlement costs/awards) in the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 is set out in the table. The majority of these charges arose in the Department’s 73 Missions abroad and involved a wide range of local matters including advice and services in relation to property matters, leases of premises, and local employment law matters.

With regard to the estimated costs for 2014, it is not possible to predict legal costs with certainty. The provision in the 2014 estimates for legal costs at HQ and Missions is €303,000.

Year

Total costs

2011

100,821

2012

79,854

2013

162,129

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