Departmental Legal Cases Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 January 2018

Tuesday, 16 January 2018

Questions (85)

Brendan Howlin

Question:

85. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Taoiseach the number of extant legal proceedings to which the Attorney General is a party or a notice party in which the constitutional validity or consistency of an enactment has been challenged; the enactments involved and the present stage of those proceedings; the number of those cases in which a Minister is not also a party; and the number of cases in which the Director of Public Prosecutions or another public authority is also a party. [54429/17]

Written answers

The Taoiseach

The information sought by the Deputy is wide-ranging and its production would necessitate a manual audit of a significant number (c.10,000) of the litigation files open in the Offices of the Attorney General and the Chief State Solicitor. Current statistical reporting from the Offices’ Case Management System does not capture the particular aspects of the Deputy’s query, for example, information on the various enactments under challenge in any proceedings. Additionally, cases remain active on the system until all aspects of the matter are concluded, which may extend well beyond judgment or settlement in a case, if the taxation of costs arises.