Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 195: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will provide an itemised list of payments made to external solicitors and to external barristers whose services were procured directly by the Department and by each agency and body under its aegis in the years 2007, 2008, 2009 and to date in 2010; the reason for each such procurement; if such services were procured through competitive tendering processes in every instance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40942/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, Government Departments do not directly pay for the legal services provided by the Office of the Attorney General, the Chief State Solicitor's Office and the State Claims Agency or for advice from Counsel briefed by them. My Department has a Legal Division, staffed by qualified legal professionals who provide legal advice on a wide range of international legal issues. Having such 'in-house' legal experts reduces the costs which would be incurred if the Department was to engage externally for similar services.

Nevertheless, there are from time to time occasions where a need to engage external legal services arises, where the necessary specialised expertise is not available within my Department and cannot be accessed from the Attorney General, the Chief State Solicitor's Office or the State Claims Agency, for example in regard to advice relating to the lease or purchase of embassy properties abroad. I have provided details in the following table on the total costs for external legal services in respect of advice sought in Ireland and overseas for the period in question. I regret that it is not possible in the timeframe to provide a detailed breakdown of these costs.

The procurement of legal services remains subject to basic EU treaty obligations of transparency and non-discrimination as well as being subject to the general requirement under Department of Finance and Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) guidelines that services of this nature must be procured by competitive process.