Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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306. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the way in which his Department’s annual amount for contingent liability is set; the factors considered when setting contingent liability; if forecasting is undertaken regarding setting future amounts; the contingent liability figure for his Department for 2020; and if the contingent has been utilised to date in 2020. [36909/20]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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My Department’s contingent liabilities derive solely from costs pertaining to a small number of legal actions.  At present, in relation to providing for a contingent liability relating to legal costs, the Department consults with its legal representatives in determining the probability of a liability arising as well as the probable quantum of that liability should judgement and / or costs be awarded against my Department.  

At the end of 2019, the contingent liabilities in relation to my Department’s own Vote (Vote 11) related solely to my responsibilities under the Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014, by amending Section 3(A) of the European Convention on Human Rights Act 2003, that allows people who have been unlawfully detained as a result of judicial error to sue the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform for compensation.  In 2020, €24,000 was budgeted for this purpose and it has been utilised in the year to date.

At the end of 2019, there was one legal action against the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) and the legal process regarding costs is still ongoing.  As stated in the OGP’s 2019 Appropriation Account (Vote 39), costs were estimated at €1 million.