Council legal bill doubles after row over damages

A county council’s legal bill doubled after an unseemly squabble with a department over the costs of defending a damages action taken by a woman grieving for her husband and daughter.

Both Cork County Council and the Department of Transport were sued by Mary Moriarty following the deaths of Vincent Moriarty, aged 44, and Tracey Moriarty, 11, in a ferry tragedy off Castletownbere in Feb 1994.

Her claim was settled. But a dispute then erupted over €81,806 in legal bills clocked up by the county council. It’s believed the department had promised to pick up the bill.