Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Will Mr. Quinn send us a more detailed note on it? The last thing I want to ask about concerns legal costs. It would not be a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts if we did not hone in on them. Table 6.5 on page 730 of the Appropriation Account 2015 concerns legal costs. There were 215 legal cases involving employees and the cost of compensation was €1.783 million. The legal costs paid by the Department and the costs awarded in that case amounted to €1.475 million giving a total cost of €3.258 million. The amount paid to employees was €1.783 million and in addition to that, legal costs on top of that came to 83%. That is very high. There were 39 claims from members of the public and compensation awarded amounted to €431,000. The legal costs associated with those awards amounted to €175,000 when the two are added together with the figure being 58%. Why are legal costs 83% on top of the actual compensation paid when members of the Defence Forces take cases against the Department when they are only 58% when members of the public take cases against the Department? Does the Department contest cases brought against it by its own employees more vigorously and incur more legal costs than it does when it contests claims brought by members of the public? Logically, it incurs more legal costs. Can Mr. Quinn comment on that? Why does the Department incur more legal costs in cases where it is fighting against Defence Forces personnel compared to, say, traffic accidents involving members of the public?