Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. Departments have historically paid exorbitant legal fees. The HSE probably has the highest expenditure to legal firms. The payment of crazy sums of money was recently revealed in The Sunday Business Post on foot of freedom of information requests. Some €71.5 million has been paid to solicitors' firms. One firm received €11.5 million in a 12-month period in 2012. A barrister received approximately €968,000 in 2010. Child care proceedings are proving to be very lucrative. A top-earning barrister received €1.3 million from the HSE in 2012. A host of other payments was highlighted by the newspaper. What procedures does the Minister intend to put in place to deal with this significant draining of the State's scarce resources? It is way over the top. Procedures will have to be put in place. At the moment, the legal sections of Departments deal with legal advisers, make arrangements and negotiate with legal firms. We need to get senior executives from the Departments and the HSE highly involved in this.

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