Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The obligation will be there from Monday. I have a few questions in a related area. A total of 41% of funding in the Office of the Chief State Solicitor is spent on counsel fees and 37% of funding in the Director of Public Prosecution's office goes on counsel fees. The witness indicated that this largely depends, in the case of the Director of Public Prosecutions, on the duration of cases and so on. What steps are taken to ensure cases do not drag on? In many cases, there is a determination on the steps of the court or information is given that is subsequently ruled out of being put before the jury. It seems that issues like this could be dealt with more expeditiously. Counsel fees are a major issue. As the troika stated when its representatives arrived, the major expense of litigation in this country needed to be addressed. This again comes back to the citizen. It is either the citizen or the relevant corporate entity that is detrimentally affected by drawn-out cases. The taxpayer is affected by counsel fees, which are quite expensive now, if the litigation is unduly extended. Are there procedures to examine cases and see how the length of time for them can be reduced to save money for the State and citizens?