Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 604: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he will provide an estimate of the cost of legal services which his Department paid for in 2007 and to date in 2008; and if he is satisfied that effective measures are in place to minimise this cost. [39309/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department incurred costs of €1,319,817.79 in 2007 and €2,039,199.34 in 2008 in relation to certain litigation costs, i.e. for cases before the Courts which involved the Department as a Defendant or Respondent. These would have included litigation relating to Primary and Post-Primary Schools, Community and Comprehensive Schools, Special Educational Needs, school non-attendance, school transport, employment law matters, (including salaries and pensions), litigation arising from industrial relations actions and/or appeals to the Courts from decisions of the Equality Tribunal, contractual disputes and a diverse range of matters.

It should be noted that these figures include legal costs relating to Community and Comprehensive Schools, as the State provides a general indemnity to the authorities of these schools in respect actions or claims made against them by visitors, parents or other members of the public in respect of accidents etc. occurring on school premises. Also included is the cost of actions pursued by the State Claims Agency. Since 1st September 2005, all personal injury claims against the Minister for Education and Science have been delegated by the Government to the State Claims Agency. A consequence of this is that the State Claims Agency has sole responsibility for deciding the approach to be adopted in litigation and for determining how individual cases are conducted. Payment of all State costs in these actions is made directly by the Department. The cost of legal services detailed above would also include advisory work on PPP projects, drafting work in relation to various contractual matters and so forth.

Legal costs incurred by the State, in defending those cases which are brought to court, are not met directly by my Department. In accordance with financial procedures in cases involving damages or compensation against the State, costs are generally charged to the Chief State Solicitor's Office Vote as sanctioned by the Attorney General. The Department is not complacent in dealing with these cases and attempts, wherever possible, to reduce the potential for litigation and the levels of legal costs where they arise. It may also be noted that the question of minimising legal costs incurred by the State is being addressed by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in its proposed "Legal Costs Bill" which is included in the "C List" in the current Government Legislative Programme.

The Residential Institutions Redress Board and the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse expended €41,050,139.00 in 2007 and €37,165,454.10 for the current year to date for their legal services' costs and for those 3rd party costs for which they are required to meet.

Section 27 of the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002 provides that all reasonable legal costs and other costs associated with the preparation and presentation of an application to the Redress Board will be met by the Board. In the event that agreement cannot be reached between the Board and the applicant's legal representative, the matter is referred to the Taxing Master of the High Court for determination. The Residential Institutions Redress Board publishes an Annual Report each year. Included in this Report is a breakdown of monies paid by the Board to individual legal firms together with details of the number of clients they have represented in that particular period. These annual reports are made available to download on from their website at www.rirb.ie.