Tribunal barristers earn up to €2,500 a day

BARRISTERS working for tribunals of inquiry earn more in three days than old age pensioners receive in a year, Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy told the Dáil yesterday.

As the total cost to the tax payer of completed and sitting tribunals reaches almost €140 million, Mr McCreevy said he was concerned that the cost of paying third party legal fees was about to dramatically increase.

The State has already paid legal costs of €25.5m to cover the cost of third party legal costs awarded at three completed tribunals a figure that represents 68% of the total cost of the tribunals themselves.

"Given the significance of these costs in completed tribunals and inquiries, there is scope for a sharp acceleration in Exchequer costs if third party legal costs follow the pattern of completed tribunals," Mr McCreevy warned.

Of the total €138.6m price tag for all completed and sitting tribunals of inquiry, just under €100m went to cover legal costs. All other tribunal expenses cost just €39.2m.

In the Moriarty Tribunal, senior counsel are paid a daily rate of €2,500 while the Morris, Barr and planning tribunals pay barristers €2,250 a day. The equivalent daily rate for the Laffoy and Dunne tribunals stands at €1,905 per day.

Expressing concern at the excessive cost of the tribunals, Mr McCreevy said a number of proposals aimed at reducing costs were under consideration jointly with the Attorney General and Justice Minister Michael McDowell.

However, Fine Gael Finance spokesman Richard Bruton argued Mr McCreevy had done nothing but increase tribunal fees despite telling the Fianna Fáil Árd Fheis he was going to limit costs of tribunals.

"Was he Minister for Finance when sanction was given to increase the brief fee from €20,000 to €60,000? "Is it not the case that the minister has done nothing but increase the fees?" Mr Bruton also said any changes made to reduce the cost of tribunals would have no effect on current tribunals.