Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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319. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the total legal costs incurred by her Department in 2011, 2012, 2013 and estimated in 2014. [17362/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Department incurs expenditure on costs associated with legal cases from Vote 37 Department of Social Protection and the Social Insurance Fund. The following table sets out legal costs paid by the Department for the period 2011 to 14 April 2014 -

Costs relating to prosecutions arising from fraudulent claims made to the Department are borne by the Chief States Solicitors Office.

The Department is involved in a number of pending legal proceedings which may generate legal costs to the Department, depending on the outcome of the litigation. Any actual amount or the timing of potential costs arising from these proceedings is uncertain.