Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I accept the spirit in which the amendment was tabled but a Bill is in preparation to deal with the question of legal costs in a comprehensive way including the issue of consumer protection referred to by Deputy O'Shea. The issue of legal costs in all contentious cases is being examined by the Department. By "contentious" I mean any legal service provided in connection with legal proceedings before a court.

A group was established by my Department to advise on the implementation of the Haran report of 2005. Officials from my Department have commenced work on drafting a Bill to reform the manner in which disputed legal costs are assessed with the allied objective of making the market for civil legal services more predictable, consistent and transparent to consumers. We cannot deal with this issue in isolation. The question of legal costs requires a comprehensive response and it is intended to provide this in separate legislation.

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