Port company finally settles law firm’s hefty bill of €700,000

A TOP Limerick law firm has settled a huge legal bill with a semi-state company.

Shannon Foynes Port Company (SFPC) had owed its legal advisers, Holmes O’Malley Sexton in the region of €1.1 million.

However, it is believed the deal reached was for a figure about €400,000 less.

The bill related to the firm representing the port company in a High Court case with former chief executive Brian Byrne.

Mr Byrne sued the port company after he was suspended on full pay in October 2006, after allegations were made by two port users against him.

After 14 months of preliminary hearings, a full hearing was averted in October 2007, when the company agreed to settle.

Mr Byrne is understood to have received a settlement in the region of €500,000, with an acknowledgement that the allegations were withdrawn.

At a meeting of the port company last April, the full board backed a recommendation by its account subcommittee not to pay the €1.1 million sought by Holmes O’Malley Sexton.

The company decided they would take the matter to the Taxing Master of the High Court to decide on the issue.

After talks between the company and Holmes O’Malley Sexton, the Irish Examiner has learnt that the company has agreed to pay the legal firm a fee in excess of €700,000.

The port company also refused to pay out €120,000 sought by an accountancy firm for work it carried out on validating the law firm’s original bill.

Shannon Foynes Port Company also had to pick up the legal costs, of almost €1m, of the Dublin law firm representing Mr Byrne.

Some members of the port company were angered at the costs sought by Holmes O’Malley Sexton, claiming it was twice the figure they expected to be billed.

A non-executive director of SFPC, Morgan Leahy, had also sued the company over the allegations made by port users.

He accepted a settlement of €50,000 and asked that it be donated to Milford Hospice.

Earlier this year SFPC paid out more than €800,000 to a manager and a supervisor who took unfair dismissal cases against the company.