Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

While considering the reorganisation of the Office of the Chief State Solicitor, will the Taoiseach consider establishing a practice whereby all Departments involved in legal actions should report to the Chief State Solicitor's office the details of such actions? I raise this matter because a Supplementary Estimate for more than £3 million was considered recently at a finance committee. When inquiries were made, half of the sum, £1.5 million, was in respect of legal costs. The report stated that on the advice of senior counsel, it was now recommended that the Department should settle for the sum of £3 million. This matter dragged on for years, to the point at which, if memory serves, costs had accumulated to £1.5 million, although the matter should have been settled immediately. At the end of the aforementioned period, a senior counsel advised the Department in question to settle this action. Had the matter been tracked properly, the taxpayers could have been saved more than £3 million — I refer to pounds, not euro.

The Chief State Solicitor's office should be a centre to which all such outstanding claims in various Departments are reported and where a decision should be taken as to whether claims should be settled, instead of being dragged out as the file is moved from one person's desk to another. People retire, the matter continues and someone else comes in. The Ceann Comhairle is familiar with this practice. While examining the Chief State Solicitor's office, the Taoiseach should put in place some measure that would save the taxpayer considerable moneys.

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