34. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the Government may, at the request of the Minister of the Government in whom functions in relation to a State authority are vested, by order delegate to the Agency the management of any claims for costs, or classes of claims for costs, whether claims for costs, or classes of such claims, against or in favour of, such an authority, or both.

(2) An order under subsection (1) may exempt any class of claims for costs against, or in favour of, all or any of the State authorities from the delegation effected by the order.

(3) In addition to its application to a claim for costs where the entitlement concerned arises on or after—

(a) the coming into operation of this Part, or

(b) the coming into operation of the order concerned under subsection (1), a delegation under subsection (1) may relate to a claim for costs where the entitlement to the payment of the costs concerned has arisen before any such coming into operation.

(4) For the foregoing purposes, an entitlement to the payment of the costs concerned arises on the date of, as the case may be—

(a) in the case of proceedings, as referred to in paragraph (a)(i) or paragraph (a)(ii)(I) of section 32, or paragraph (b)(i) or paragraph (b)(ii)(I) of that section, the order concerned of the court,

(b) the order concerned under section 6 of the Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence) (Amendment) Act 1979,

(c) the direction concerned under section 17 or 24 of the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004,

(d) in the case of a determination under section 21(3) of the Arbitration Act 2010, the award concerned of the arbitral tribunal,

(e) in the case of an agreement between the parties concerned in settlement of a claim for costs, the agreement unless the agreement expressly states otherwise,

(f) in the case of a counterclaim, the order concerned of the court, or

(g) the receipt of a written notice of discontinuance under Order 126 of the Rules of the Superior Courts (S.I. No. 15 of 1986) or Order 21 of the Circuit Court Rules (S.I. No. 510 of 2001).

(5) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), whenever an order under that subsection is in force, the Agency shall, if and in so far as the order declares, have the following functions:

(a) advising the Minister, whenever he or she so requests, in relation to the management of delegated claims and matters connected therewith;

(b) advising a relevant Minister of the Government, whenever he or she so requests, of the status and progress of the management of any delegated claim, or class of such claim, against or in favour of, such Minister of the Government or any other State authority other than the State and the Attorney General;

(c) advising the Taoiseach, whenever he or she so requests, of the status and progress of the management of any delegated claim, or class of such claim, against or in favour of, the State or the Attorney General;

(d) advising a State authority other than the State, a Minister of the Government or the Attorney General, whenever such an authority so requests, of the status and progress of the management of any delegated claim, or class of such claim, against or in favour of, such an authority.

(6) An order under subsection (1) may contain such ancillary and incidental provisions as the Government consider necessary or expedient for the purposes of the delegation effected by the order.

(7) Subject to subsection (8), the following provisions shall apply in relation to a delegation under this section and a declaration under subsection (5), that is to say—

(a) the Government may at any time by order—

(i) revoke the delegation in whole or in part, or

(ii) provide that all or any of the functions to which the declaration relates shall cease to be performable by the Agency, and, upon the coming into operation of the order, the functions shall cease to be performed by the Agency,

(b) subject to paragraph (a), the delegation shall operate, so long as it continues in force, to confer on and vest in the Agency the function delegated by the delegation and the declaration shall operate, so long as it continues in force, to confer on and vest in the Agency each function specified in subsection (5),

(c) the function delegated by the delegation or to which the foregoing declaration relates shall be performed by the Agency subject to any conditions or restrictions specified in the order concerned under this section,

(d) any obligation or liability undertaken by the Agency consequent upon the performance by the Agency of a function to which the delegation or declaration relates shall be of the same force and effect as if the obligation or liability had been undertaken by the State authority concerned,

(e) a function of a State authority that is delegated by the delegation or to which the declaration relates shall, notwithstanding the delegation or declaration, as the case may be, continue to be vested in the State authority but shall be so vested concurrently with the Agency so as to be capable of being performed by either the State authority concerned or the Agency, but shall be performed by the State authority concerned only if, and to the extent that, a direction under subsection (8) applies to it, and

(f) the delegation or declaration shall not remove or derogate from the responsibility of any Minister of the Government to Dáil Éireann, or from the responsibility of that Minister as a member of the Government, in relation to the performance by that Minister of any function to which the delegation or declaration relates.

(8) The Minister may—

(a) at the request of the Taoiseach in the case of delegated claims against the State or the Attorney General, and

(b) at the request of a relevant Minister of the Government and after consultation with the Attorney General in the case of all other delegated claims, if he or she is of the opinion that it is in the interests of the State to do so, give the Agency a direction (which it shall comply with) not to begin, or to discontinue, managing any delegated claim specified in the direction and, following such a direction, the claim concerned shall not be managed or further managed by the Agency.