Universities spend average of €2.7m a year on external legal fees

Universities have spent an average of nearly €2.7m a year on external legal fees since 2006 with up to two thirds going towards resolving staff disputes.

The highest spend on external legal fees was by University College Cork where almost €2.9m of the total €4.6m legal bill in the seven years to 2012 was allocated to human resources cases.

The figures obtained by the Irish Examiner show that 65% of University of Limerick’s legal fees go on HR matters, but its total legal spend of under €1.3m since 2006 is the second lowest.