Details released under the Freedom of Information Act show Dublin City Council spent nearly €2.2m on paying barristers between January 2018 and last month.

The State has paid out almost €9m in compensation and legal fees to staff and prisoners due to assaults and "slopping out" practices - including €100,000 to two families whose relatives died from "self-inflicted" wounds.

The DPP has revealed that payments to barristers to prosecute cases in the criminal courts last year totalled €17.39m - an increase of €1m, or 6%, on the €16.4m paid out in 2017.

A High Court trademark infringement case which resulted in a €35,000 award will cost €2m in legal fees, a judge has said.

The Department of Finance and agencies under its remit spent around €25.75m on legal fees last year.

Legal fees are reported to be at their highest level in six years according to Government economic advisors.

The leader of Renua has said her legal fees - at the centre of a complaint to the Standards in Public Office Commission - are 'nobody's business'.

The spend by the Central Bank on third-party legal services last year increased by 23% to €3.2m, or a weekly average spend of €61,538.

The legal firm that Justice Minister Alan Shatter helped build got fees totalling €422,130 from the HSE last year.