‘Greatest gravy train in Irish history’ costs €85m in legal fees

By Juno McEnroe

Friday, July 03, 2009

THE Irish tribunal system has been described as the "greatest gravy train in Irish history" after it was revealed that two individual barristers were paid over €8.5 million each out of a total €85m paid over to lawyers.

Under fire at a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing, the country’s top civil servant conceded the structure of the tribunal systems was "flawed".

Dermot McCarthy, secretary general at the Department of the Taoiseach, also admitted plans to reduce lawyer fees were abandoned because of fears that several barristers would walk.

The three heads of the government departments went on to reveal the latest cost to the State of the tribunal legal teams.

Legal costs for Mahon, a tribunal into planning issues, have mounted to €47m, while fees for Moriarty – a tribunal probing payments to politicians and related matters – are €27.5m.

Legal fees for Morris – a tribunal into allegations against the Garda Síochána relating to issues in the 1990s and early 2000s – have now reached €10.5m.

The top-paid barristers in the Moriarty Tribunal include John Coughlan (€8.5m), Jerry Healy (€8.5m), and Jacqueline O’Brien (€5.8m).

Mahon’s highest paid barrister is former taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s old adversary, Des O’Neill, who was paid €5.3m. Morris’s top paid barrister, Paul McDermott, got nearly €3.2m.

Reviewing the tribunals, Comptroller and Auditor General John Buckley found some barristers receive fees of up to €2,500 a day, sometimes claiming for 260 days a year.

Mahon is expected to cost up to €194m, Moriarty another €100m, while bills for Morris could reach €70m.

However, the state’s financial watchdog predicted the final cost for the three inquiries could reach €434m.

The three department heads said claims for witnesses’ legal fees and challenges before the courts could hike the final bill even further.

Judge Mahon and Judge Moriarty are expected to produce their final reports later this year, committee members were told.

PAC chairman Bernard Allen was critical that individual tribunal chairmen had the principal role in deciding which barristers were hired and no tendering system was ever used.

"This is the greatest gravy train we’ve seen in Irish history and one man was able to call the shots."

Mr McCarthy stressed changes to lawyers fees were abandoned in the interests of finishing the inquiries and keeping senior counsel. But he said: "There is a basis for concern over the legal fees." He also admitted the tribunal model was "flawed."

Labour TD Tommy Broughan argued the tribunals had merely created a lot of millionaires and pointed out the government has still to introduce legislation which will shrink daily earnings of senior counsel from €2,500 to €900.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Friday, July 03, 2009