Written answers
Wednesday, 16 October 2024
Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Departmental Legal Cases
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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107. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of legal cases taken against his Department in each of the past ten years and to date in 2024; the costs incurred by his Department in relation to such cases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41714/24]
Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The table below sets out the amount spent by my Department in respect of legal costs or legal services in the past 10 years up to September 2024.
| Year | Legal Costs Amount |
|---|---|
| 2014 | €434,804 |
| 2015 | €381,821 |
| 2016 | €591,647 |
| 2017 | €853,851 |
| 2018 | €1,419,612 |
| 2019 | €869,305 |
| 2020 | €1,674,339 |
| 2021 | €2,306,932 |
| 2022 | €928,820 |
| 2023 | €2,992,084 |
| 2024 (to end Sep) | €547,715 |
With regard to the number of legal cases taken against my Department, the table below is compiled based on records available and sets out the number of cases commenced against the Department over the past ten years and up to September 2024. Cases do not always fall into one calendar year, and in some cases, they may run over a number of years.
| Year | Number of cases commenced in year |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 0 |
| 2015 | 3 |
| 2016 | 6 |
| 2017 | 5 |
| 2018 | 5 |
| 2019 | 4 |
| 2020 | 8 |
| 2021 | 9 |
| 2022 | 2 |
| 2023 | 8 |
| 2024 (to end Sep) | 1 |
With regard to Judicial Reviews of the Employment Permit processes the number of applications to the High Court, are set out below:
| Year | Number of Judicial Review applications (Employment Permits) |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 4 |
| 2015 | 0 |
| 2016 | 0 |
| 2017 | 1 |
| 2018 | 1 |
| 2019 | 2 |
| 2020 | 2 |
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2022 | 2 |
| 2023 | 3 |
| 2024 (to end Sep) | 3 |
Regarding cases which are in relation to provisions of the Protection of Employees (Employer’s Insolvency) Act 1984, responsibility for this Act transferred to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from the Minister for Social Protection in October 2020. Therefore, legal cases prior to October 2020 were initiated against the Minister for Social Protection, but are now reported by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. These cases are set out in the table below:
| Year | Number of cases under the Protection of Employees (Employer's Insolvency) Act 1984 |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 3 |
| 2015 | 2 |
| 2016 | 0 |
| 2017 | 1 |
| 2018 | 1 |
| 2019 | 5 |
| 2020 | 2 |
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2022 | 0 |
| 2023 | 1 |
| 2024 (to end Sep) | 1 |
For completeness of response, my officials also contacted the State Claims Agency (SCA), who resolve personal injury and third-party property damage claims against State authorities. Claims received since 2014 to End-September 2024 by the State Claims Agency in respect of my Department are set out below:
| Year | Number of SCA claims received for DETE | Amount paid per year for claims received (€) |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 2 | 8,000 |
| 2015 | 1 | 2,113 |
| 2016 | 0 | 600 |
| 2017 | 2 | 2,505 |
| 2018 | 1 | 46,694 |
| 2019 | 2 | 1,373 |
| 2020 | 1 | 63,288 |
| 2021 | 0 | 68,359 |
| 2022 | 1 | 14,811 |
| 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 1 | 30,000* |
*Reserve total not yet paid out.
Additionally, there are two on-going cases against the Department where costs have not yet been settled.
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