Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Renua Ireland)
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594. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the number of legal cases currently ongoing against his Department including State agencies under his aegis; the number of cases that took place during the years 2011 to 2014, inclusive; the cost of those that were contested and what damages were involved; the costs and damages of those that were settled; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43265/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Each year my Department is required to prepare and submit to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General an Appropriation Account of funds expended from the Department’s Vote in the year concerned. Following audit, the Account is published on the Comptroller’s website and includes details of legal costs incurred by my Department, set out by way of a note to the Account. The Department is involved in a number of pending legal proceedings which may generate liabilities, depending on the outcome of the litigation. Any actual amount or the timing of potential liabilities is uncertain but details of costs involved will be published in the relevant Appropriation Account. Data in respect of legal costs incurred in the requisite years are set out in the following table. The table does not include costs associated with the Planning Tribunal. Payments in respect of legal costs incurred by agencies or bodies under the aegis of my Department are a matter for the agency or body concerned.

Legal Costs - Vote 25 DECLG- €000s