Ms Eileen Creedon:

I also thank the committee for the opportunity to make a brief opening statement. I am pleased to be able to assist the committee in its examination of the 2014 appropriation account of the Office of the Chief State Solicitor.

I am pleased to be able to say that my office does not feature in the annual report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and, as requested, I have provided the committee with an update on expenditure in 2015.

As the committee is aware, my office deals with a wide range of legal work on behalf of the State. This ranges from conveyancing and property work to advising on and dealing with commercial contracts, managing litigation taken against the State and dealing with challenges to the Constitution. Many matters are high profile, sensitive and capable of attracting publicity. Sometimes, they involve emergency applications to court, strict time limits and complex issues of law.

The Vote for my office is split into two parts, those being office administration and the provision of legal services. It should be noted that payroll and legal expenses account for 94% of total expenditure. Within the administrative subheads, payroll is by far the greater expenditure at €14.1 million in 2014. This equates to 52% of the entire expenditure under that year's Vote. While my office has a staff complement of 226, there are 17 vacancies. One of the main challenges I have faced in 2014 and 2015 is the recruitment and retention of solicitors. With the economy picking up, there are more attractive financial opportunities in the private sector. In 2014, eight solicitors resigned, with a further 14 resigning in 2015. It has proven difficult to attract replacements. The office has 13 vacancies at solicitor level. This equates to 11% of its solicitor complement. I am discussing this matter, which is posing a significant risk to the office, with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

Expenditure on the remaining administrative subheads amounted to €1.8 million or 7% of total expenditure in 2014. The administration division facilitates a full range of support services that are critical to the provision of the legal service. Expenditure includes items such as staff training, library and knowledge management services, utilities, building maintenance, photocopying and document preparation, and the provision of IT, telephone and postal services.

The provision of legal services is spread across five divisions, each managed by an assistant chief State solicitor, which is equivalent to assistant secretary. The divisions are organised around legal case types. All of the work is driven by the demands of Departments and Government offices. The range of work undertaken is broad and includes matters of national importance that are high profile and of high monetary value to the State. Much of the work is court based and can be subject to tight time limits, leading to great demands on my staff and the counsel used by my office. The office has developed specialist expertise where necessary and has to maintain these specialisms across all legal areas. The office also needs to be in a position to react to new legal developments as they arise for our clients.

Expenditure on legal services includes fees to counsel, general law expenses and external legal services, and it accounts for 41% of overall expenditure. The main area of expenditure under this heading is on fees paid to counsel, which in 2014 accounted for 36% of the entire expenditure of my office. I should point out that expenditure in this area is dependent on the level of activity in the courts and is, therefore, difficult to forecast accurately. Significant controls are in place to manage expenditure on fees paid to counsel, and the management of this expenditure is a key activity for the Chief State Solicitor's office. These are fees payable to counsel representing Departments and Government offices in litigation before the Irish courts and other tribunals and the European Court of Justice. They also include fees payable to counsel for the provision of legal advice to the State, whether sought for the Attorney General's office or for client Departments.

While the controls in place are working well, recent legal activity has seen a marked increase in the complexity of the work being handled by my office in areas such as commercial litigation and transactional work, procurement work, litigation and advisory work resulting from our membership of the European Union and the implementation of directives, environmental law, planning, employment law, asylum and immigration, etc. Furthermore, the new Court of Appeal has resulted in a faster throughput of appeal cases that heretofore would have remained pending on the Supreme Court list for a number of years. My office has also handled a number of significant and high-profile cases relating to, among other issues, challenges to the Constitution and the recent referendums. The result of all this is that I will not be able to remain within the 2015 Estimate allocation for fees to counsel and have commenced the process of seeking a Supplementary Estimate to be in a position to discharge all fees owing for 2015.

I thank the Chairman for allowing me the opportunity to make this short statement and will do my best to assist him and his colleagues in their considerations. In the event that I do not have information with me, I will do my best to provide any outstanding material within two weeks.