Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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176. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government 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. [41498/25]

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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177. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if his Department conducts regular benchmarking, or market testing, to ensure that the rates paid for legal services, solicitors and barristers, represent value for money for the taxpayer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41516/25]

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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178. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to detail the procurement processes used when engaging external legal firms and barristers, including whether panels are used; how often these are refreshed; the criteria used for selection and performance review; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41534/25]

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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181. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if his Department makes use of capped fee arrangements, fixed-fee briefs, success-based fee models or other such arrangements in its legal engagements; if not, the reason such options are not considered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41588/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 176 to 178, inclusive, and 181 together.

Litigation is dealt with on behalf of my Department by the Attorney General’s Office, the Chief State Solicitor’s Office or the State Claims Agency who engage lawyers to act for my Department where necessary. The costs of any external solicitors or counsel in such litigation are not managed by my Department.

Where appropriate and warranted, my Department may engage the services of external legal advisors. In such circumstances, procurements are conducted in compliance with applicable procurement regulations, national legislation and the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation Circulars. Where applicable to my Department, the specific matters raised in the Questions are effectively determined in the course of the procurement process undertaken.

Individual sections are responsible for ensuring that the services are delivered in accordance with all the terms of the contract, including scope, duration and cost. To assist section in monitoring their contracts, details of contracts are maintained in a central register and circulated quarterly by the Department’s Procurement Unit to sections for cross checking.

In terms of State bodies under the aegis of my Department, the information sought in the Questions is an operational matter for each of the State bodies concerned and, as such, it is not information held by my Department. It is suggested that the Deputy contact the Bodies directly in relation to this matter. Contact details for each body is set out in the following table.

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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179. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if his Department has conducted any audits or reviews in the past five years on legal fee spend; if so, to publish the findings or summaries of those reviews; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41552/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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I am advised that no audits or reviews on legal fee spend have been completed in the past five years.