Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 32: To ask the Minister for Defence the legal costs which have been incurred by the State's legal team from the commencement of the army deafness cases to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23977/06]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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In general, the Office of the Chief State Solicitor pays the costs of the State's legal team. This includes Counsel Fees, Medical Fees, Fees for Expert Witnesses, State solicitors, Stenographers etc. These costs are charged to the Vote of the Chief State Solicitor's Office.

The Office of the Chief State Solicitor has advised us that in the period 1998 to date, when the vast majority of Army Hearing Loss cases were finalised, it has paid a total of €17.8m in such fees. This included €11.4m for Counsel Fees. During this period, the Department of Defence also directly paid €2.0m in other costs associated with the processing of hearing loss claims.

These amounts do not include the costs of staff and overheads in the Office of the Chief State Solicitor, the Defence Forces, or the Department of Defence incurred in processing these claims.

The management of new and outstanding hearing loss claims was delegated to the State Claims Agency with effect from 1st September 2005. Since that date, my Department has paid a total of €601,000 in Plaintiff and Agency legal, and related costs to the State Claims Agency in respect of hearing loss claims.