HSE’s €18m annual legal bill for childcare cases ‘unnecessary’

The HSE pays approximately €18m a year on legal representation in cases involving children, a sum its national director of children and family services has said may be unnecessary.

The €18m figure covers all legal costs involving childcare cases in which the HSE has an involvement, but also includes the Guardian Ad Litem service, essentially an independent guardian appointed by the court to represent their best interests in proceedings.

However, the size of the bill is such that the HSE’s national director of children and family services, Gordon Jeyes, has said it could be reduced and the money instead diverted to frontline services.