Anne Ferris (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 455: To ask the Minister for Defence if he will provide details for the years 2006 to 2011, inclusive, of the arrangements entered into by him, any body under his aegis or State agency for which he has responsibility, for the obtaining of advice from a senior or junior counsel and or a firm of solicitors; the subject matter for which advice was sought; the names of the barristers and solicitors firms concerned and the fees paid; the nature of the work concerned; if in each case the matter was advertised for competitive tender and if not, the reason; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30961/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Chief State Solicitors Office and the State Claims Agency deal with all legal matters on behalf of the Department. As such it would seldom arise that the Department procures the services of external solicitors and barristers directly. In 2007 McCann Fitzgerald solicitors were contracted, through a competitive tendering process, to provide legal drafting, research and advice services in relation to the drafting of new Rules and Procedure and Court Martial Rules following the enactment of the Defence (Amendment) Act, 2007. A payment for this service was made in 2008 to the value of €53,845 which included VAT. No legal firm was involved in the preparation of the tender documents.

The Defence Forces Canteen board has procured legal advice from B.P. McCormack & Son, Solicitors. The only payment made in the years listed was a payment of €5,505.50 in 2008 in relation to two cases. Firstly, advice was sought concerning the amendment of regulations and, secondly, legal advice was sought in a case taken by an employee of the Board.

In 2011, AL Goodbody Solicitors were paid €21,168.75 for their work in relation to a conciliation hearing between the Department and a building contractor. No competitive tender competition was held due to the short timescale available between notification of the requirement for legal advice and the date of the conciliation meeting. AL Goodbody was selected to provide this service on the basis that they had been engaged by the Department of Finance to provide advice on the contract documents that were the subject matter of the hearing.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 456: To ask the Minister for Defence the annual cost of the licensed payroll system, Corepay, to his Department. [31054/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The annual running cost of the Corepay payroll system for my Department, based on 2011 payments, is €72,734. This cost is broken down as follows:

1 Note: These licences also allow the 400 users to access the eBusiness suite of Oracle applications used for accounts and integrated management information systems in the Department.