Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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83. To ask the Minister for Finance the amount the State Claims Agency paid in legal costs to solicitors representing the agency in 2015 and 2016; the amount paid in legal costs to solicitors acting for plaintiffs; the top ten payments made to named legal firms representing the agency and plaintiffs, respectively, in 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12492/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the NTMA is designated as the State Claims Agency (SCA) when performing the claims management and risk management functions designated to it under the National Treasury Management Agency Act 1990, as amended.

In answer to the Deputy's question, I refer to the material provided by the SCA and which is outlined below. The material provided by the State Claims Agency covers the amounts paid during the relevant period, and the report is correct as of 7 March 2017.

This information has been extracted from the National Incident Management System (NIMS). This is a confidential and secure end-to-end risk management tool which manages the reporting of incidents, including claims. It is hosted by the SCA for the HSE, other Healthcare enterprises and State Authorities. An incident can be a harmful Incident (Adverse Event), no harm incident, near miss, dangerous occurrence (reportable circumstance) or complaint. An Incident can relate to a person, property, crash/collision, dangerous occurrence or complaint.

In reviewing the material the Deputy should note that:

- All figures are based on payments made within a transactional year recorded on NIMS.

- All figures are inclusive of V.A.T. 

Agency Legal costs paid to solicitors in 2015 and 2016

Table 1: Cost of payments made to solicitors working on behalf of the SCA

Plaintiff legal costs paid in 2015 and 2016

- The level of legal costs paid to plaintiffs' legal representatives is carefully reviewed and, wherever possible and by means of negotiations, the SCA seeks to achieve the maximum possible reduction in legal costs. If the SCA cannot successfully agree the level of legal costs to be paid to plaintiffs' legal representatives, the matter is determined by a Taxing Master.

Plaintiff legal costs relate to the payment made to the Plaintiff's legal team i.e. Solicitors and Counsel and are also inclusive of expert fees which are discharged by the Plaintiff's solicitor. These expert fees may relate to actuarial, engineering, medical, witness fees etc.

Table 2: Cost of plaintiff legal costs paid by the SCA

Top 10 agency solicitors by legal costs paid in 2016.

- A number of solicitors act on behalf of the agency in defence of clinical negligence and general negligence cases.

- Table 3 shows the total amount of all transactions paid to each solicitor firm within the transactional year 2016.

Table 3: Top 10 Agency Solicitors by amount paid in 2016

Top 10 legal firms acting on behalf of plaintiffs by legal costs paid in  2016

- Plaintiff legal costs relate to the payment made to the Plaintiff's legal team i.e. Solicitors and Counsel and are also inclusive of expert fees which are discharged by the Plaintiff's solicitor. These expert fees may relate to actuarial, engineering, medical, witness fees etc.

- Table 4 shows the total amount of all transactions paid to each legal firm within the transactional year 2016.

Table 4: Top 10 Plaintiff legal costs paid by amount in 2016