Ms Geraldine Tallon:

Yes, there have been 22 individual claims. Until a year or so ago, we automatically sent such claims for review by legal cost accountants, because there is a legacy to be dealt with from a number of tribunals. The Department of the Taoiseach then reviewed the process and it was decided that the legal costs unit of the State Claims Agency would deal with the legal costs arising from all the tribunals. As such, the standard procedure now is to transfer all claims from the Department to that unit.

Of the 22 claims received, seven have been settled. We are very happy with the service from the State Claims Agency in this regard. It is working quite quickly on the claims, perhaps at a better pace than we had previously been experiencing. Moreover, it has achieved a 52% reduction in costs on the claims it has settled.