Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 226: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will indicate the numbers, if any, of in or out of court settlements made by his Department directly or by bodies directly or indirectly under his aegis for whatever reason in the past ten years to date; the extent, if any, to which a confidentiality clause was attached in any such agreements; if known, the cost or likely cost to the Exchequer arising therefrom, and under what particular heading any such charge might have been applied; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37721/11]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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In seeking to provide the Deputy with the information requested, the assumption has been made that the question relates to civil proceedings taken by or against the Department or one of its offices.

The Deputy should be aware that a number of Offices within my Department's remit institute proceedings against companies and individuals in the exercise of their statutory functions and these are carried out on my behalf. For instance, the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) engages in civil enforcement cases where a person has either a determination of the Employment Appeals Tribunal or a decision from the Rights Commissioner that has not been honoured and, NERA will pursue the debt for the individual to whom it is owed. NERA would have approximately 60-70 of these type of cases annually of which approximately 10-15 would proceed through the Court System. It would not be usual that a confidentially clause would attach in such cases. Similarly, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement initiates judicial proceedings in pursuance of the exercise of its statutory functions.

In the exercise of its quasi-judicial functions, the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) hears both parties to an employment dispute e.g. Unfair Dismissal and issues a determination following the hearing. Depending on the legislation involved in the claim, it is possible for either party to the original EAT case to appeal either to the Circuit Court or to the High Court on a point of law. It is also possible for either party to apply to judicially review a decision. In such instances, the cases would normally run their course through the appeals process and be subject to a decision of the relevant Court which may overturn the original EAT decision and involve an award of costs against the EAT.

In terms of in and out of courts settlements made by my Department or its offices in the last 10 years, records indicate that eight such settlements were made in that period. In the time available, it has not been possible to obtain the details of one case settled in 2005. In the case of the other seven cases, all bar one had a confidentiality clause attached. Accordingly, it would not be appropriate to release details of the settlement costs in these cases which but they were in the nature of legal costs. The settlement in the case that had no confidentiality clause was for an amount of €344,175.

A further area in which there may be some information of interest to the Deputy is in relation to cases against the Department in respect of Health and Safety claims. Under the National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Act, 2000, the management of personal injury and property damage claims against the State, including this Department, and of the underlying risks was delegated to the NTMA. When performing these functions, the NTMA is known as the State Claims Agency.

The Agency has resolved approximately 10,650 claims since its inception; however, claims-specific data for my Department is not, within the time constraints for reply, available. The SCA has been asked to provide this detailed information as soon as possible and, if this is of interest to the Deputy, this information can be passed to him.

The number of court settlements made by the Agencies of my Department is a day-to-day matter for the Agencies concerned for which I have no responsibility. In this connection, I have asked that the relevant information be provided to you directly.