Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 2 February 2022
Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Estimates for Public Services
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised)
John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source
In relation to procurement, I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, about the procurement of legal services across the various Departments. Each of us would be aware of the amount of money that can be spent or racked up by legal firms in relation to the Department defending a case or other. For example, the victims of Thalidomide have their 25th Minister for Health in the course of all of this issue being debated publicly and in their efforts to seek a solution, and it is tied up in court. I wonder on issues like that if there are specific procurement rules with which each Department must comply with regarding the appointment of legal representatives and who keeps control on them. Who says, for example, in the middle of the debate around the Thalidomide issue, "That is enough, because we will spend too much on legal fees, and let us reach an agreement"? Is there any common sense applied as it goes along?
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