Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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796. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if all external legal fees incurred by his Department, and by any bodies under its aegis, are charged at negotiated discounted rates; how fees are monitored for compliance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41509/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy may wish to note that rates for legal fees are set using the OGP competition guidelines and frameworks to determine which supplier is selected for the procurement of legal services.

Monitoring of spend is handled within the relevant unit, in line with contractual management and governance requirements. The OGP standard contract is used for procurement. Audit responsibilities are overseen by the Comptroller & Auditor General.

The following is the position for the bodies under the aegis of my Department:

Public Appointment Service:

Public Appointment Service’s (PAS/public jobs) normally only use the services of the Office of the Chief State Solicitor. The Office’s only expenditure on legal fees in the past five years was €581.79 in 2022 when then requested advice from a legal firm procured by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (to provide employment law related advice) and paid the agreed fee.

Office of the Ombudsman:

The Office of the Ombudsman primarily relies on its in-house legal team for solicitor services. However, it utilises the OGP multi-supplier framework if external solicitor services are required. The Office uses the services of external barristers, primarily drawing on those who have been added to the panel maintained by the Office, having quoted their fee ranges for specific kinds of work. The in-house legal team is responsible for the monitoring the costs of external legal services.

Office of the Regulator of the National Lottery:

External legal fees incurred are at the rates negotiated by the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) pursuant to an SRFT under the OGP’s legal services framework.

The ORNL Invoice approval process required the person availing of the legal advice (Regulator, Head of Legal and Compliance or Deputy Regulator) to:

• Verify that fee charged matches the rate agreed in the contract.
• The works charged were performed as per the purchase order.