Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is still a lot of work going on in the preparation of Bills for legal services and for further reforms in the legal profession, as the Deputy knows well. Some of that work is being resisted, obviously. As I understand it, all fee notes for work carried out by counsel were critically examined and, where necessary, reduced to reflect the value of the work completed. Following this review, a reduction of 8% was due under the measures contained in the FEMPI Act of 2009, as applied. It is fair to say, therefore, that the fees paid by the State are substantially lower than those in private practice.

The programme for Government sets out that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will examine the possibility of tendering for procurement of barrister services and the potential benefits involved. In respect of the Office of the Attorney General and the Chief State Solicitor's office, the Department accepted that, for the present, it would be preferable not to introduce competitive tendering in the normal sense as those offices have been very successful in reducing legal fees over the past number of years. Since 2008 overall expenditure on fees to counsel have been reduced by 30%. It should be noted that the number of cases coming into the offices has not decreased significantly during this period. That does not answer the Deputy's specific question, but I will get the information he is seeking.