Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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389. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government 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. [36907/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department does not make specific provision for contingent liabilities in the accounts.  They are disclosed by way of a standard note with regard to legal proceedings in the Appropriation Account.  In the case of my Department this reference relates to the Mahon Tribunal.

The contingent liability for the Mahon Tribunal is set through consultation with the Registrar of the Tribunal, and the Head of Legal Costs at the State Claims Agency (SCA), which is charged with negotiating Third Party Claims resulting from the Tribunal. The factors that are considered in setting the contingent amount are: 

- An estimate of the outstanding Third Party Claims – recoupments of costs incurred by persons in dealings with the Tribunal (as these are negotiated by the SCA it is difficult to predict an accurate figure);

- An estimate of anticipated possible High Court costs – the costs of litigation in which the Tribunal has been engaged (again difficult to accurately predict); and

- Outstanding operational costs associated with the Tribunal – including administration and Tribunal internal legal fees.

Forecasting is difficult as the timeline of expenditure is dependent on the submission of claims by Third Parties, which is outside the control of the Department.

The cost of the Tribunal up to the end of October 2020 was €140.6m. The estimated final cost is expected to be €144.7m.