797 Deputy Alan Shatter asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in each of the years 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 the arrangements entered into by his Department for the obtaining of advice from a firm of solicitors and or from senior or junior counsel; in each case the subject matter in respect of which advices were sought, the name of the solicitors firm and or barristers concerned and the fees paid; the nature of the work concerned, that is, whether it involved the drafting of legislation or the obtaining of legal advices; whether in each case the matter concerned was advertised for tender and where not, why not. [1621/11]

799 Deputy Alan Shatter asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government with regard to legal services used by his Department, any Body under the aegis of his Department and any State agency for which he is responsible; if he will give details of the legal services of which there has been competitive tendering in each of the years 2008, 2009 and 2010; the legal firm in each case that furnished advice with regard to any such tendering and assisted in the preparation of tender documents and in each case to detail the solicitor’s firm who succeeded in each tendering process, the nature of the work for which each firm successfully tendered and the fees paid for any such advice or assistance to each firm for work for which it tendered. [1651/11]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 797 and 799 together.

The information requested in respect of payments made by my Department from 2006 to 2010 is set out in the following table. This does not include costs associated with the Planning Tribunal; payments of this nature by agencies or bodies under the aegis of my Department are a matter for the agency or body concerned. No legal firm provided advice or assistance in respect of the relevant tendering processes.