Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will reserve my comments on chapter 15 until we reach the appropriate point in the meeting. I welcome the witnesses and thank them for the material supplied and their work in the Department and the Chief State Solicitor's office.

The three areas of the Vote on which I want to focus my questioning are the cost of the citizenship and asylum seeking application process, free legal aid and the future cost of tribunals. I will begin by referring the witnesses to the page in the 2011 Appropriation Accounts which lays out the figures for the Estimate provision, the outturn and the 2010 outturn. Tables D1, D2 and D3 set out the original Estimate for 2011, the outturn and the 2010 outturn. There is a supplementary figure included for the operation of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, INIS, of €5.6 million. Will Mr. Purcell explain to the committee the reason that Supplementary Estimate was necessary and for what the money was used?