Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 166: To ask the Taoiseach the amount of money that would be saved in the Office of the Chief State's Solicitor if public sector wages were capped at €100,000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19770/12]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Based on current staff levels it is estimated that the Office would save €322,000 if salaries were capped at €100,000. Salary scales are set by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and the Office has no control over these rates.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 167: To ask the Taoiseach if spending on furniture, fittings, maintenance and repairs by the Office of the Chief State's Solicitor is audited; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19772/12]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Appropriation Account of the Chief State Solicitor's Office, which covers all expenditure from the Office's Vote, is audited every year by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 168: To ask the Taoiseach the measure that have been taken by the Office of the Chief State's Solicitor to reduce expenditure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19773/12]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Office reviewed it expenditure in 2011 as part of the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure. The main areas of expenditure within the Office are payroll and fees paid to counsel. Payroll and staff numbers are controlled by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Staff numbers are determined by the Employment Control Framework (ECF) which is revised by the Department from time to time and the allocation for payroll is agreed with that Department as part of the Estimates process. The Office complies with the ECF notified to it and this in turn drives the payroll expenditure. Pay levels are set by the Department.

The Office has implemented much tighter control of expenditure on fees to Counsel and has achieved a €7.5m reduction in 2011 over the 2008 figure. This represents a 42% reduction in expenditure since 2008. The Office will continue to monitor this expenditure very closely and reduce this cost further if at all possible. However, this very much dependent on the level of legal work coming into the Office from Government Departments and Offices.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 169: To ask the Taoiseach if the Office of the Chief State's Solicitor intends to reduce consultancy spending in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19774/12]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Office spent less than €20,000 on consultancy in 2011. The Office uses consultants only where absolutely necessary. While €29,000 has been allocated for 2012, it is expected that actual expenditure will be closer to the 2011 figure.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 170: To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide the details of each of the solicitors and barristers who received payments from the Office of the Chief State's Solicitor during each of the past five years; and the amount each individual received for their services. [19775/12]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The details requested by the Deputy are contained in the following tables. There were no payments made to State Solicitors in 2008.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 171: To ask the Taoiseach the items that may be claimed by staff in the Office of the Chief State's Solicitors for travel subsistence and incidental expenses; the average payment to staff members in expenses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19776/12]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Office of the Chief State Solicitor adheres to Circular 11/82 in relation to Travel and Subsistence and also to the Circulars in relation to motor travel and subsistence rates issued by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The main work related expenses for which reimbursement can be sought are:

Train fares

Bus tickets

Motor mileage

Accommodation

Subsistence

Toll charges

Car parking

In general the Office uses the central Government contract for air travel which books trips directly rather than CSSO staff booking flights and recouping the cost from the Office. All expenses claimed by staff must be vouched for and are paid only if considered essential to the discharge of official duties. The average amount paid among those staff who claimed travel and subsistence in 2011 was €588.40.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 172: To ask the Taoiseach the reason €2.225 million was spent on office machinery by the Office of the Chief State's Solicitor between 2009 and 2011; if he views this figure as excessive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19777/12]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The figure referred to by the Deputy covers expenditure not just on office machinery but also on IT goods and services as well as on stationery and printer supplies. The actual amount spent on office machinery over the three years was €162,000, which gives an average spend of €54,000 per year. The figure mainly relates to expenditure on photocopiers and binding equipment: the Office has a significant printing requirement in connection with its legal work.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 173: To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide the details of all foreign travel undertaken by staff in the Office of the Chief State's Solicitor during each of the past three years. [19778/12]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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In the past three years staff have travelled to the following locations on official business:

2009

A total of €17,367 was spent on foreign travel in 2009.

2010

A total of €35,819 was spent on foreign travel in 2010.

2011

A total of €36,478 was spent on foreign travel in 2011.

Figures for Luxembourg include trips undertaken by counsel representing the State at the Court of Justice of the European Union as well Office staff dealing with the same cases.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 174: To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide details of the memberships for staff paid for by the Office of the Chief State's Solicitor. [19779/12]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Office pays for staff membership of the following organisations:

In 2011 the Office paid €11,858 in relation to these memberships.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 175: To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide details of the work outsourced by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution under the category general operative; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19780/12]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The work outsourced by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions under the category general operative mainly involves the provision of internal and external mail delivery and collection services and the operation of general office machinery such as franking, guillotine and shredding machines. When plans to move the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to a single site have been implemented, it is anticipated that one of the efficiency savings which will be achieved is that this outsourced service will no longer be required.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 176: To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide the details of the solicitors and barristers who received payments from the Director of Public Prosecutions during each of the past five years; and the amounts each individual received for their services. [19782/12]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The following lists show the amounts paid by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to Counsel and to State Solicitors in each of the past five years. There are some differences between the totals of the list of fees to individual barristers shown below and the totals of amounts broken down by Court type supplied in the answer to a question from the Deputy on 27 March. For 2010 and 2011 the difference is around €20 each year and arises from rounding.

For 2009 and 2010 the differences are about €1,150 and €1,600 respectively and arose from the fact that the breakdown by Court type was drawn from an older accounting system replaced by the Office in 2009. For 2007 the difference was some €90,000 and arose from the fact that the old accounting system recorded a small number of payments as having been made in 2006 whereas the funds involved did not actually issue until 2007. All payments were correctly accounted for in the Office's annual Appropriation Accounts.

During the period in question, payments were made to other solicitors for advice provided to the Office on administrative matters as follows:

Arthur Cox

2007 €1,832

2008 €2,098

2009 €1,323

2010 €2,941

2011 €1,246

Mason Hayes Curran

2007 €9,536

2008 €29,933

2009 €17,443

The Office also makes payments to solicitors where costs are awarded against the Office. Such costs are listed under Subhead C in the Office's annual Appropriation Accounts and have not been included in this answer.

The total shown above differs by approximately €90,000 from that given in the answer to PQ 14913/12, of which showed fees paid to counsel broken down by court. The difference arises because of the way payments were processed and how data was stored by the accounting system that was in place in 2007. All monies are accounted for.