Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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217. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will provide in tabular form a breakdown on a yearly basis of the legal and travel costs his Department has incurred as a result of litigation in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, the General Court in Luxembourg and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg from the years 2005 to 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23317/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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A breakdown of the legal and travel costs incurred by my Department in relation to the areas raised by the Deputy is set out in the table below.

I am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, INIS, that in the period in question my Department incurred legal costs in a small number of cases heard before the European Court of Justice. The bill of costs for these cases also included legal costs relating to judicial proceedings taken in the Irish courts on which the European Court of Justice proceedings were predicated. Accordingly, it is not possible to provide a breakdown of the costs solely incurred in respect of the European Court of Justice hearings. I will communicate directly with the Deputy should this information become available.

Finally, I wish to inform the Deputy that, for the most part, the legal services sought by my Department are coordinated and paid for by the Office of the Attorney General and the Chief State Solicitor's Office and are therefore not included in the above table.