Mr. John McCarthy:

I will trace through the procedure and how it works in practice. Once a tribunal rules on the principle of whether a third party is or is not entitled to costs, it is up to the legal advisers of those who are entitled to submit their claim. Once submitted to the tribunal, the claim comes to the Department and we in turn refer it to the State Claims Agency, which has been retained by Chief State Solicitor's office, CSSO, to perform that function. Following the SCA's examination of the claim and, no doubt, an element of negotiation between it and the legal professionals, the report will be sent back to the Department and we in turn refer it to the CSSO and the tribunal for review. Generally, the CSSO will accept the SCA's recommendations, subject to some exceptions where it carries out a more detailed examination itself. Our experience shows that these procedures achieve considerable savings.