Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 July 2022
77. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the amount spent by his Department on legal costs or legal services in each of the past ten years and to date in 2022, in tabular form. [40007/22]
View answerMy Department administers a very diverse and complex brief. Its remit includes oversight of very complex policy areas and direct procurement of major services where protection of the State’s interest must be paramount. This situation necessarily requires my Department to procure specialist external professional advice in legal areas to enable it to discharge its responsibility to deliver quality services and protect the interests of the State and the taxpayer. In procuring specialised legal services, my Department always seeks to ensure value for money and the keeping of expenditure to the minimum necessary.
My Department has been reconfigured on several occasions since 2012. The information sought by the Deputy is not readily available and its compilation would involve a disproportionate amount of time to compile.
For details of costs for the period covering 2016 – July 2020 I would direct the Deputy to Question 61 of 7 July 2020.
The amount spent on legal fees by my Department since then is outlined in the below table.
|
Timeline |
Amount |
|
July 2020 – End 2020 |
€438,173 |
|
2021 |
€1,201,097 |
|
January 2022 - Date |
€765,850 |
