Ms Eileen Creedon:

I will try to be brief. If I exceed my allotted time, perhaps the Chairman will let me know. I am pleased to be able to attend before this committee to discuss the 2011 appropriation account in respect of Vote 13, Office of the Chief State Solicitor, and chapter 15 of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report for 2011. This is my first time to appear before the committee since my appointment as Chief State Solicitor just over a year ago. As requested, I have forwarded a briefing note which sets out the main developments and challenges facing the office and which includes details of expenditure in 2012 and the current position with the Bridge Project, the subject matter of chapter 15.

The status of the lease - the subject matter of chapter 15 - remains in dispute between the Department of Justice and Equality, the landlord-receiver and the architect. I cannot discuss the case before the committee and in that regard I wish to bring its attention to section 3(5) of the Committees of the Houses of the Oireachtas (Compellability, Privileges and Immunities of Witnesses) Act 1997. Proceedings have now issued in this case and I would draw the committee's attention to section 5 of the same Act.

The Comptroller and Auditor General, in his report of 2011, made a recommendation to the Office of the Chief State Solicitor. As this recommendation was made in the context of the Comptroller and Auditor General's examination of the issues outlined in the chapter, I am constrained in any response I can give at this time. I wish to assure the committee that risk assessment is a matter which is taken with the utmost seriousness by me and my office. A full response to the recommendation of the Comptroller and Auditor General will be made at the conclusion of this case. The outcome of this case will inform that response.

The committee may be already aware that my office is a constituent part of the Office of the Attorney General and that it provides solicitor services within that office and to Government Departments and offices. The Office of the Chief State Solicitor has a wide remit including, but not limited to, civil litigation in all courts - including the European Court of Justice - and the provision of solicitor service in the areas of conveyancing and property law, Government contracts and public procurement issues for an array of Civil Service clients. Many matters are high profile, sensitive, capable of attracting publicity and sometimes can involve emergency applications to court, strict time limits and complex issues of law. It should be noted that my office does not provide a solicitor service for the Director of Public Prosecutions in the prosecution of offences.

As set out in more detail in my briefing document, it must be noted that my office must meet a number of challenges. In summary, it has to balance the need to operate within the constraints of reduced resources and budget while ensuring that the legal service it is providing is of the highest standard as required by Government and is achieving maximum value for money.

We need to attract and retain high calibre staff and ensure that they have the required resources to do their work to the highest standard while continuing to address the need to achieve further savings. I set out in my statement the administrative budget subheads, on which I can elaborate if necessary, but for the sake of brevity I will move on to counsel fees.

Expenditure on fees to counsel amounted to 31.2% of overall expenditure from the Vote in 2011. I should point out that expenditure in this area depends on the level of activity in the courts and is therefore very difficult to forecast accurately. There are significant controls in place to manage expenditure on fees paid to counsel. There are procedures previously agreed with the Department of Finance governing payment of counsels’ fees. Department of Public Expenditure and Reform sanction is required for any brief fee in excess of €9,525. The management of expenditure on counsels’ fees is a key activity for the Chief State Solicitor’s office. These are fees payable to counsel representing the Departments and offices in litigation before the courts and other tribunals and the European Court of Justice. They also include fees payable for the provision of legal advice for the State, whether sought for the Attorney General’s office or for client Departments. The committee might be interested to hear that the office achieved an overall reduction of 46% when comparing the outturn for 2012 with that of 2008.

Subhead C deals with general law expenses. This subhead provides for expenditure on items such as expert witnesses and stenographers fees as well as payments made under the Attorney General’s scheme. Costs incurred accounted for 16.8% of total expenditure. The objective of the Attorney General’s scheme is to provide legal representation in certain types of proceedings to persons who are unable to pay for such representation and where other forms of legal aid are not available. The administration of the scheme was transferred to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in 2007 with the Chief State Solicitor's office, CSSO, still accountable for the expenditure. The Legal Aid Board took over responsibility for the administration of the scheme from the Department on 1 June 2012. As and from 1 January 2013, the Legal Aid Board has assumed responsibility for funding the scheme, which has been renamed the legal aid – custody issues scheme. The cost borne by the office in 2011 for the Attorney General’s scheme was €4.08 million. The cost for 2012 was €3.5 million.

Thank you, Chairman, for allowing me the opportunity to make this short statement. I will do my best to assist you and your colleagues in your considerations. In the event that I do not have the information available to me today, I will do my best to provide any outstanding material within two weeks.