Dáil watchdog to quiz lawyers on tribunal bills

THE Dáil spending watchdog committee is to quiz state lawyers about reducing legal costs as well as examine attempts to cut bills for tribunals.

Officials from the Office of the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecution as well as the State Solicitor’s Office will next week appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

TDs are concerned about the cost of lawyers’ fees and will question the amount being spent on legal services by the state.

The PAC will also hear from the Law Reform Commission and the Competition Authority on the same day about attempts to reduce the daily rate for lawyers with the tribunals.

PAC chairman Bernard Allen said yesterday that answers would be sought as to why the tribunal ‘gravy train’ was still continuing.

“We’re concerned about the fee levels and the lack of competition.

“We’ve already pointed out that the chairmen of the tribunals appoint their own team at the expense of the public purse.”

TDs with the committee last year heard how legal costs for Mahon, a tribunal into planning issues, mounted to €47m, while fees for Moriarty – a tribunal probing payments to politicians and related matters – were at €27.5m.

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

Five barristers alone at the Mahon Tribunal had earned fees of between €3.5m and €5.3m.

At Moriarty, two of the country’s top tribunal lawyers had earned €8.5m each, while several more lawyers have mounted up fees of between €1.3m and €5.8m.

At Morris, its top paid barristers had earned between €815,000 and €3.2m.

There has also been criticism as to why a decision in 2004 to substantially reduce tribunal lawyer fees was rolled back two years later by the Government.

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

The top paid barristers to date, according to the 2009 figures, were in the Moriarty Tribunal, including John Coughlan (€8.5m) and Jerry Healy (€8.5m).

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

Mr Allen added: “We want to find out how these rates have been settled upon and agreed. They’ve [the tribunals] been going on so long, the rates are huge.

There’s questions about competition and the manner in some way in which these people were first appointed by the tribunals.”