Vol. 489 No. 5
96 Mr. Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the reason private firms of solicitors are employed in view of the infrastructure of State solicitors, including the Chief State Solicitor's office and 32 county State solicitors, available to do this work. [8425/98]
97 Mr. Doherty asked the Minister for Finance the fees paid to private firms of solicitors for work done, including the heading under which that work was done, in each of the years from 1990 to date in 1998. [8426/98]
98 Mr. Doherty asked the Minister for Finance when it was decided that the State would bypass the established State solicitors' system in relation to the recovery, by civil litigation, of moneys owed to the State. [8427/98]
99 Mr. Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if he will set out in tabular form the fees paid by him to private firms of solicitors in each of the years from 1990 to date; and the nature of the cases involved. [8428/98]
I propose to take Questions 96 to 99, inclusive, together.
It is not the normal practice of my Department to engage solicitors who work in private practice. There are no records of my Department using private solicitors during the period 1990 to date other than one occasion in 1997 when a solicitor was retained at a cost of £600 to provide a half day's training course on the legal aspects of the employee assistance service. The solicitor in question was Mr. Peter O'Boyle, 7 North Great George's Street. My Department does, however, regularly avail of the services of the Chief State Solicitor's Office, CSSO.
All cases referred to the Chief State Solicitor's Office by Government Departments-Offices are processed by the staff of the CSSO and never by solicitors in private practice. There is, however a 1985 Government directive which states that all State work should be done by the CSSO and that, where solicitors in private practice are to be engaged, the Chief State Solicitor should be consulted in advance.
The Office of Public Works, Office of Public Works, avails of the legal services of the CSSO for litigation and recovery of moneys. However. private firms of solicitors are used by the Office of Public Works where the commissioners are acting in their capacity as trustees and in certain commercial transactions or where specialist advice is required, e.g. planning advice, advice on industrial relations issues and advice on the Office of Public Works bid for the national conference centre.
Specialised work relating to the collection of revenue debt is carried out for the Office of the Revenue Commissioners by two firms of solicitors. The volume of cases, the need for Revenue to maintain overall control of the debt and the complexity require a dedicated resource within a solicitor's firm to ensure efficient and cost-effective action. These factors militate against the use of a large number of solicitors. The use of external solicitors has proved to be a very effective method of dealing with debt collection work in the District and Circuit Courts. The Office of the Revenue Solicitor handles most debt collection at High Court level. I understand the Revenue Commissioners have recently completed a review of the role of external solicitors in the context of changes in the operating procedures in Revenue and have explored means of streamlining the system and further enhancing effectiveness. Following this review the business will shortly be put out to tender. It should be noted that the State solicitors are engaged by the Office of the Revenue Commissioners for certain prosecutions taken in the name of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
