Mr. Maurice Quinn:

As the Chairman knows, we do not have any direct control over the amount of time and legal costs. The Chief State Solicitor and the State Claims Agency agree bills of costs and their tax default agreement if necessary. My analysis of the situation would be that much of that depends on the nature and complexity of the issue being dealt with. When the State Claims Agency is dealing with claims by members of the public, these claims are, in general, reasonably straightforward whereas when you go through some of the more intractable cases we have had with employees where there are very specific and difficult points of law and the rights of a particular individual are being dealt, they are more complex, take more time and, therefore, incur more costs.