Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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617. To ask the Minister for Finance the amount spent on legal fees associated with litigation, advice and settlements in each of the past three years by his Department and agencies under its aegis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40879/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I wish to advise the Deputy in the years, 2022,2023 2024 and up to 18 July 2025 my Department spent a total of €1,516,422.90 on legal services broken down as per the table below, some of these costs were recoupable.

The bodies under the aegis of my Department have provided the information below.

Central Bank of Ireland

The below fees were in respect of all external legal advice required by the Central Bank as a whole in the exercise of all areas of its multifaceted mandate, including its regulatory and enforcement responsibilities and its central banking and Eurosystem role. The fees include external legal fees in relation to all litigation initiated by or taken against the Bank (including litigation required in the exercise of the Bank’s supervisory and enforcement functions), legal support to Administrative Sanctions Inquiries, legal support in relation to significant operational projects and property matters. The Bank has put in place a number of framework agreements with individual legal services providers which were awarded on foot of a public procurement procedure; these have provided for agreed discounted rate and volume discounts.

The Bank annually discloses, within Note 8 of the Financial Statements in its Annual Report, amounts expensed on Legal fees relating to Legal Advice, Legal Proceedings & Settlements. The 2022 – 2024 figures are as published in the Annual Reports. It should be noted that the 2025 figures are to be considered draft and may be subject to change until the 2025 Financial Statements are audited. Due to the timeframe for provision of the requested information, the Bank’s 2025 analysis has not undergone its standard audit/verification process, which will be completed as part of the year end audit.

Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General

Disabled Drivers Medical Board of Appeal

It should be noted that the DDMBA is funded from my Department’s Vote (Vote 7) and the legal fees for 2024 below are also included in my Department’s expenditure on legal services as set out above.

Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO)

The FSPO’s external legal expenditure for 2022 and 2023 is published in its Annual Financial Statements for those years under the headings Legal Fees and External Drafters.

In addition to the spend with legal service providers during the year, the published figure for legal fees includes movements in the provision for legal costs. Excluding movements in the legal provision, the figures for 2022, 2023 and 2024 are set out below. It should be noted that the figures for Legal Services for 2024 will remain draft until the finalisation of the 2024 Annual Financial Statements and the figure for 2024 could be impacted prior to finalisation due to, for example, legal cost settlements for proceedings concluded that year.

Irish Bank Resolution Corporation

Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI)

Corporate legal advice relates to general legal advice provided by HBFI’s corporate legal advisors. It should be noted that there were no fees associated with litigation or settlements.

Investor Compensation Company DAC

Irish Financial Services Appeals Tribunal

National Asset Management Agency

National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA)

The below table shows amounts for total legal fees paid in the years in question for the NTMA, Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), Future Ireland Fund (FIF) and Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund (ICNF). These amounts vary from the legal fees disclosed in the relevant annual financial statements of the NTMA Administration Account and ISIF for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024, on the basis that the NTMA uses the accrual basis of accounting in its annual financial statements.

Legal fees incurred by the NTMA (when acting as the State Claims Agency) in the performance of its statutory mandate in relation to claims management (such as medical and non-medical expert witness services and Barrister services) are not included in this response as the State Claims Agency recovers the amounts of any awards, claim settlements and associated costs from State Authorities who are liable in respect of claims managed.   

Legal fees incurred by the NTMA (when acting as the National Development Finance Agency) in the performance of its statutory mandate to procure, deliver and provide advice on public infrastructure projects on behalf of State Authorities are not included in this response as such fees are reimbursed by the State Authority to which the projects relate.

Office of the Revenue Commissioners

Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland

Tax Appeals Commission