Departmental Legal Costs

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 March 2015

Tuesday, 3 March 2015

Questions (171)

Billy Kelleher

Question:

171. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if her Department, or State bodies or agencies under the aegis of her Department, use solicitors firms (details supplied); the amount paid to these solicitors, each year, from 2011 to 2014 by her Department, or State bodies or agencies under the aegis of her Department; the date until which her Department, or State bodies or agencies under the aegis of her Department, are contracted to use these solicitors firms; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9200/15]

Written answers

Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection

The Department made no payments to the law firms mentioned in respect of legal fees for services rendered to it in the years 2011 to 2014. The Department’s legal advisors are the Office of the Chief State Solicitor and the Office of the Attorney General.

The statutory bodies operating under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection are the Citizens Information Board, the Pensions Authority, the Pensions Council, the Pensions Ombudsman and the Social Welfare Tribunal.

Payments to the law firms by the Pensions Authority and the Pensions Ombudsman for services rendered to them in the years 2011 to 2014 are set out in the following tables.

Pensions Authority

Name of Company of Solicitors	Amount paid in 2011	Amount paid in 2012	Amount paid in 2013	Amount Paid in 2014	Date contract ends
Arthur Cox	€21,077.90	€3,287.79	€0	€5,535.00	31 December 2015
McCann Fitzgerald	€0	€24,600	€0	€0	No contract

Pensions Ombudsman

Name of Company of Solicitors	Amount paid in 2011	Amount paid in 2012	Amount paid in 2013	Amount Paid in 2014	Date contract ends
Arthur Cox	NIL	€4,422.36	€4,166.62	NIL	No contract
McCann Fitzgerald	NIL	NIL	NIL	NIL	No contract

All figures inclusive of VAT.