Departmental Legal Cases

Tuesday, 26 July 2022

Questions (641)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

641. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of legal cases brought against his Department in each of the past ten years and to date in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39994/22]

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Written answers

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage

The information requested is being compiled and will be forwarded to the Deputy in accordance with Standing Orders.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51

My Department has a broad remit covering a range of responsibilities including Housing, Water, Planning, Heritage and Local Government in addition to the functions provided by Met Éireann. From the records available to me, a breakdown by year of the cases brought against my Department since January 2012 is provided in the table below. Case numbers may differ slightly from previous reports due to claim reclassifications in the intervening period.

These cases/files cover a range of litigation matters, including judicial review proceedings, personal injury claims, employment law matters and constitutional challenges. The figures reflect cases where my Department is a named party.

Year	No. of Cases
2012	15
2013	35
2014	18
2015	21
2016	13
2017	21
2018	28
2019	19
2020	40
2021	31
2022 to date	14
Total	255

A further three cases (which would bring the total to 258) have no clear commencement date but likely fall within the 2012-2013 period of the question.