Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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162. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he has sought and received legal advice outside of the Office of the Attorney General; the number of times advice was sought per year from 2011, 2012 and to date in 2013; the costs of outside legal advice per year from 2011, 2012 and to date in 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34983/13]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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My Department generally seeks advice on domestic legal matters from the Office of the Attorney General. Depending on the subject-matter, litigation is dealt with on my Department’s behalf by the Attorney General’s Office, the Chief State Solicitor’s Office or the State Claims Agency who engage lawyers to act for the Department where necessary, including for personal injuries claims and other matters. The costs of any external solicitors or counsel engaged for such matters are not charged to my Department’s Votes. The Chief State Solicitor’s Office provides legal advice in relation to commercial contracts and public procurement matters and the Department has not engaged external private sector legal advice on these matters for any of the years 2011 to 2013 inclusive.

The Department’s Missions abroad engage local legal advisers from time to time to deal with a range of miscellaneous matters. The costs incurred are relatively small and gathering and compiling the detailed data requested by the Deputy in the time available is not possible.