Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 November 2016
804. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if his Department or the agencies that report to his Department entered into any non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements with any organisation due to court action or a threatened court action; and if so,the persons or groups with which these agreements exist. [37625/16]
View answerThe Chief State Solicitor's Office and the State Claims Agency manage and provide legal representation in relation to all cases taken against the Minister for Defence.
In cases where the State is considered liable or which involve an apportionment of liability as between the State and the claimant, I am informed that both the State Claims Agency and Chief State Solicitor’s Office approach is to settle such cases expeditiously in so far as it is possible and to do so on reasonable terms. In cases where liability is fully disputed by the State, all necessary resources are applied to defending such claims robustly.
Non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements may be attached on a case by case basis depending on various factors. The Department does not hold separate statistics in relation to cases involving non-disclosures or confidentiality agreements and each case file would have to be individually examined in order to ascertain this information. As this task would involve inordinate effort, it is not possible to supply the Deputy with this information.
