Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are three law offices under the Taoiseach's Department, the Office of the Attorney General, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Office of the Chief State Solicitor, and I will group my questions to cover the three. If the Taoiseach does not have the information with him, he can send it on. My first question concerns the new Court of Appeal which was set up recently. Will the Taoiseach indicate the extra costs and possible workload that might entail for the Chief State Solicitor's office or any of the other legal offices? We have the High Court and the Supreme Court and now we have this new in-between court. There must be an implication in terms of costs. The Taoiseach might indicate how that works.

This is a question mainly for the Attorney General's Vote, specifically the role of senior counsel and junior counsel appointed by the State to various functions relating to tribunals. One tribunal is directly under the Taoiseach's Department. I understand the daily rate is in the range of €2,500 or whatever and that the Attorney General's office would have had a role in agreeing the rates, performance and other issues. From a taxpayer's point of view, would all these legal advisers and senior counsel be required to produce professional indemnity insurance? We see the claims that come through the State Claims Agency in the health area. Such claims occur in many areas where people provide a professional service which means they must have professional indemnity insurance.

Recently, the Supreme Court has been scathing of some of the unprofessional work carried out by the legal teams involved in the Mahon tribunal; has the Taoiseach or the Attorney General's office looked at the professional indemnity insurance of the people involved to establish whether they acted in a fully professional manner? Is it possible for the State, in the interests of the taxpayer, to recover some of the additional cost that will now be incurred? It would be very poor if we were to pay €2,500 per day to barristers if there was no comeback against them or their insurance if they acted in an unprofessional manner. I believe the taxpayer would like this to be pursued. It may upset some people but I think the taxpayer would like to see these people upset. Does the Taoiseach have a view on that? If he does not have that information available, he can send it to the committee at a subsequent point.