Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 14 Mar 1963

Vol. 200 No. 9

Committee on Finance. - Vote 18—Law Charges.

Dr. Ryan

I move:

That a supplementary sum not exceeding £16,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1963, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Attorney General, etc., and for the Expenses of Criminal Prosecutions and other Law Charges, including a Grant in Relief of certain Expenses payable by Statute out of Local Rates.

This arises under two heads. One is subhead B which deals with witnesses' expenses and the second is under subhead D which deals with general law charges. General law charges cover any expenditure provided by the State in payment of expenses. In regard to these two subheads, the Estimate was under-estimated and it is necessary to provide this additional sum.

Mr. Sweetman

Would the Minister give me two pieces of information? Is there anything in either subhead dealing with the Singer case and Shanahan stamps and, secondly, how much in each of these subheads arises in respect of witnesses' expenses and general law charges in cases in which the State, because it lost the case, was ordered to pay the costs of the other side?

Dr. Ryan

It was estimated as regards the Singer case that about £8,000 would fall for payment in this financial year. In the event, that amount turned out to be roughly £12,000.

Mr. Sweetman

Is that the end of the Singer case?

Dr. Ryan

That is the end. The other question is one which I cannot answer at the moment but the only case coming up is the fluoridation case.

Mr. Sweetman

There has been no decision on that. It is only starting.

Mr. P.A. O'Donnell

It starts today.

Mr. Sweetman

The Minister has misunderstood me. What I wanted to know is how much of these items is in respect of cases which the State has already lost and in which it was directed by the court to pay costs. There would be two different charges coming into the question. One would be the cost of paying the State's legal advisers and the other would be where an application by the Attorney General was dismissed with costs and he was directed to pay the costs of the winning side. The Attorney General does not pay them himself. They are paid out of this Vote and I want to know how much we had to pay in cases where the court ordered the State to pay the costs.

Dr. Ryan

As far as my information goes, there were no abnormal costs arising out of any case.

Mr. S. Collins

How many misconceived prosecutions did the State go in for?

Dr. Ryan

I could not answer that question.

Mr. Sweetman

I will put down a question and we can discuss the matter on the main Estimate.

Mr. McQuillan

Before this Vote is passed, I should like the Minister to clarify the position with regard to the Singer case. There are no further prosecutions pending in this particular case? Is that correct?

Dr. Ryan

It is unlikely that there will be but I cannot say definitely that there will not be.

Mr. McQuillan

I refer to the people Singer used in the course of his business. Are there any further prosecutions pending against any of those?

Dr. Ryan

I do not think so.

Mr. McQuillan

The Attorney General has dropped all question of further prosecutions?

Dr. Ryan

As far as I know.

Mr. McQuillan

Could we have that clear, that there is no question of any further prosecution against Mrs. Shanahan?

Dr. Ryan

I could not say definitely, but as far as I know there will not be any further prosecution. I do not know if the Attorney General has come to the conclusion that there will be any further law charges in the matter.

Mr. McQuillan

As far as the Minister is concerned, he is not in a position to say whether the file is closed?

Dr. Ryan

As far as I know, there will be no further prosecutions.

Vote put and agreed to.