Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 26 Mar 2002

Vol. 551 No. 2

Written Answers. - Departmental Appointments.

Ruairí Quinn

Question:

225 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Finance the solicitors or barristers who were appointed since 26 June 1997, as members or chairpersons of any board or committee or other body, advisers, consultants, or as holders of any other position or office other than judicial office, under the aegis of or in his Department; the name of the person in each case; if he or she is a solicitor or barrister; the position to which the person was appointed; the date of appointment; the date the person ceased to hold the position if applicable; the remuneration paid since 26 July 1997; and if the holding of particular legal qualifications or experience was a requirement for the position in question. [9797/02]

Minister for Finance (Mr. McCreevy)

The details sought by the Deputy are set out in the following table.

William Fry Solicitors seconded a solicitor to my Department for a two-year period from 6 December 1999 to provide advice to the central public private partnership (PPP) unit on legal issues in relation to the PPP process. The annual fee paid was €63,487 plus VAT. The secondment ended in December 2001. Solicitors have also been on secondment to the public expenditure division of my Department. McCann Fitzgerald Solicitors seconded a solicitor October 1999 to March 2001 and the total fee paid was €69,542. Matheson Ormsby Prentice Solicitors seconded a solicitor from May 2001 to date with the total fee paid to date is €60,951.

The following appointments were made to boards under the aegis of my Department. Mr. Thomas K. Madden, solicitor, was appointed to the Board of Ordnance Survey Ireland on 4 March 2002. The remuneration for the position is €6,349 per annum. Ms Inge Clissmann, senior counsel, is chairperson of the Civil Service Disciplinary Code Appeal Board. Ms Clissman was first appointed in April 1995 and has been re-appointed annually since then. Ms Clissmann is paid €635 for each sitting of the appeal board. Since 26 July 1997, Ms Clissman has been paid a total of €11,332.

I have appointed the following people with legal qualifications to the valuation tribunal. Members of the tribunal are paid a daily fee when engaged in its work.

Name	Profession	Capacity	Date of appointment	Date of cessation	Remuneration
Mr. Henry Abbott SC	Barrister	Chairperson	19 October 2000	(Resigned 26 February2002)	€8,996
Mr. Frank Malone	Solicitor	DeputyChairperson	11 June 2001	10 June 2006	€2,162
Ms Margaret Cordial	Barrister	Member	11 June 2001	(Resigned 23 November 2001)	No fee arose
Mr. Michael Coughlan	Solicitor	Member	17 February 2002 (Reappointed for a period of one month)	16 March 2002	€614

The Revenue Commissioners have provided the following details of their appointments. In September, 1999, the Revenue Commissioners established a new review procedure involving a three member panel of external reviewers. The review procedure can be initiated by taxpayers when they are dissatisfied with the manner in which Revenue powers are being exercised, or indeed with any aspect of a Revenue audit or enquiry. Of the panel, Ms Ita Mangan is a barrister and Ms Edwina Dunn is a solicitor. The advertisement for appointing external reviewers stated that "applicants, who may be retired persons should have relevant experience (for example in the legal, academic or accountancy fields)."

Total payments made by Revenue from September 1999 to February 2002 are to Ms Ita Mangan, €4,426 and to Ms Edwina Dunn, €20,832. The contract with the external reviewers is ongoing.

Six firms of solicitors, listed below, were appointed by Revenue to provide legal services to Revenue for the purpose of collecting outstanding tax and interest. The terms of the contracts are from 1 January, 2000 to 31 December 2004. It was a requirement of the tendering process that applicants be practising solicitors. Total payments made by Revenue to each firm for the years 2000 and 2001 are set out below.

	2000	2001
	€	€
Holmes O'Malley Sexton	188,728	426,801
Ivor Fitzpatrick & Co.	149,090	410,180
George V. Maloney & Co.	164,495	361,315
Mason Hayes & Curran	142,505	339,405
Matheson Ormsby Prentice	204,669	550,247
Pierse & Fitzgibbon	235,379	418,171

Over the period in question, the Revenue Commissioners have engaged the following solicitors and barristers to act as consultants or provide advice on the basis of their particular expertise in areas of the Capital Taxes Acts. The details are as follows.

Name

Period engaged

Remuneration

Messrs William Fry,

Solicitors

August 1998.

€3,072

Caroline Devlin,

Solicitor

August 1998

€3,072

Tony Fitzpatrick,

Barrister

June/July 2001

€3,174

Brian Bohan, Solicitor

May/July 2001

€3,809

Tony Fitzpatrick,

Barrister

Early 1999 to early

2000

€8,253

In line with best practice, the Revenue Commissioners established an audit committee in December 1998. The role of the Committee is to oversee the internal audit function in Revenue and to advise the Revenue board on the oper ation and development of that function. The Committee is comprised of senior officers from a variety of bodies. One former member, Mr. Donal Cahalane, who was head of internal audit in the Central Bank at the time, and one current member, Ms Catherine Treacy, chief executive and registrar of deeds and titles, land registry and registry of deeds, have legal qualifications. Both were appointed by the board to the committee with effect from December 1998. Both Mr. Cahalane and Ms Treacy hold a BL qualification. Mr. Cahalane resigned from the committee in November 2001 to take up an assignment with the World Bank in Washington. Members of the audit committee are not remunerated for this role. The appointment of Mr. Cahalane and Ms Treacy to the committee was not contingent on their legal qualifications.