Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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327. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence 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. [41500/25]

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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328. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence 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. [41518/25]

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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329. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence 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. [41536/25]

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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330. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence 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. [41554/25]

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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331. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the internal oversight that exists within his Department to monitor the scope, duration, and cost escalation of legal services once engaged; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41572/25]

Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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332. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence 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. [41590/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 327 to 332, inclusive, together.

The following sets out the different circumstances where external legal fees are incurred by my Department.

(1) My Department works with the State Claims Agency (SCA) in relation to the defence of delegated personal injury claims made against the Minister for Defence. The SCA manages and provides legal representation in relation to such personal injury cases. External legal costs incurred by the SCA arising from the defence of any claims managed by the Agency for my Department are refunded to the Agency by the Department.

(2) The Department also works with the Chief State Solicitor’s Office (CSSO) in relation to litigation regarding administrative decisions relating to Defence Forces’ personnel that are being challenged by way of Judicial Review or other civil proceedings.

(3) Employment law matters taken against the Minister for Defence are also managed on my behalf by the CSSO, which is responsible for the costs of the State's legal teams in the litigation cases that it manages on behalf of my Department.

My Department does not contract, procure, hire or otherwise directly engage any legal representation in its litigation or employment law cases. These are functions of the State Claims Agency and the Chief State Solicitors Office.

(4) My Department does also source external legal advice on employment law matters on the basis of a contract in place between the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (DPENDR) and an external legal firm. In all cases, the fees paid are those sanctioned by DPERDR.

(5) In relation to external legal services relative to the work of the Department's Protected Disclosures Office, such services are retained by the CSSO and fees are paid consistent with the rates sanctioned for such fees.

(6) There have also been occasions when my Department has engaged the services of legal counsel to prepare independent reports into such issues as the application of military law and processes in circumstances where personnel have been convicted or charged in the civil courts and to carry out a post-incident internal inquiry surrounding the incident in which Private Seán Rooney was killed in Lebanon in December 2023. In such cases, counsel are engaged following their nomination by the Office of the Attorney General and not directly by my Department, though the costs of their engagement are met by my Department.

(7i) Legal Counsel to the Defence Forces Tribunal of Inquiry are also appointed following nomination of the Attorney General and fees paid are also on the basis of rates sanctioned by DPENDR.

In terms of oversight and accountability, my Department monitors and reports, on an ongoing basis, and within existing, overarching corporate governance frameworks, on all expenditure to ensure full compliance with public financial procedures.

In this regard, a robust internal control framework encompassing segregation of duty, accountability and reporting elements is well established and operates effectively to ensure all financial affairs are in order and delivering value for money.

In addition, all Defence expenditure is subjected to ongoing audit scrutiny from both the Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General and a well-established Internal Audit Unit operating within the Department.