Lying Eyes lawyer best paid at €270k

The leading barrister who shot to prominence for her cross-examination of Sharon Collins, aka “Lying Eyes”, was the best paid senior prosecutor in the country last year, new figures from the DPP show.

Una Ní Raifeartaigh SC received €270,854 (incl VAT) for her work as a prosecutor in 2011. The payment to Ms Ní Raifeartaigh was part of €13m paid by the DPP to counsel last year — a drop of 8% on the €14.7m paid out for prosecuting cases in 2010.

Ms Ní Raifeartaigh has recently represented the DPP a number of times in court concerning its high-profile, three-year investigation into Anglo Irish Bank.

The figures show that senior counsel received an aggregate €3.3m from the DPP last year, with junior counsel receiving an overall €10m in fees.

Separate figures provided by the Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, to Sinn Féin TD Jonathan O’Brien in a written Dáil reply show that legal counsel received a total of €10.2m from the Office of the Chief State Solicitor last year, compared to €12.37m paid out in 2010.

In relation to the DPP’s fees to counsel, the figures show that the top-earning barrister in the country was junior counsel, John O’Sullivan BL, who has led the prosecution at Limerick Circuit Court against Limerick gangland figures over the past number of years. Last year, Mr O’Sullivan received €271,154.

Another to earn over €200,000 for his work for the DPP in 2011 was the Irish Times columnist, author and political pundit, Noel Whelan BL, who received €211,179.

The figures show the lead prosecutor in the “Lying Eyes” case, Tom O’Connell SC — who recently successfully prosecuted Barry Doyle Portland Row, Dublin, for the murder of Limerickman Shane Geoghegan — received €231,797, with Patrick Gageby SC receiving €189,609.

Mr Shatter confirmed that the general law expenses of the DPP’s office dropped last year from €6m to €2.6m, with €2.5m of this being “award of law costs”. Mr Shatter explained the decrease by stating that there was a 32% reduction in the number of cases and a 38% fall in the average payment.

Separately, Mr Shatter told Mr O’Brien that two individuals in the DPP’s office receive a salary between €150,000 amd €200,000, with 21 employees earning between €100,000 and €150,000.