Departmental Expenditure

Wednesday, 7 February 2024

Questions (402)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

402. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount spent by his Department on legal costs or legal services in each of the past ten years and to date in 2024, in tabular form. [5378/24]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

It is not possible to provide the information requested by the Deputy in the required time. The information is currently being compiled and I will forward it to the Deputy as soon as it is available.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51

My Department generally avails of in house legal services and the services of the Chief State Solicitor's Office as need be. Occasionally and depending on the individual characteristics and complexity of specific cases, it has engaged private Solicitor Firms and Junior and Senior Counsel for external legal advice. I wish to inform the Deputy that, the amount spent by my Department on legal costs or legal services in each of the past ten years and to date in 2024 is set out below.

Year	Expenditure incurred on Legal Costs or Legal Services €
2014	156,840
2015	267,018
2016	38,466
2017	705,679
2018	79,529
2019	776,135
2020	339,007
2021	108,167
2022	1,135,826
2023	330,567
2024 to date	360.00

These figures in the table above do not include settlement or compensation amounts.