Brother of Tusla legal affairs boss one of the top 10 earners in barristers’ fees at the agency

A brother of the head of legal services at Tusla has been one of the top 10 earners in barristers’ fees at the agency for the last three years. Jim Benson BL received €53,096, €50,201, and €77,397 for 2016, 2017, and 2018 respectively for services to Tusla.

His sister, Pamela Benson, took up her role as head of legal services permanently in 2015. In that year, Mr Benson received €4,034 in fees from the child and family agency. The head of legal services in Tusla is charged with appointing counsel when notified by solicitors that one is required.

According to figures obtained by the Irish Examiner under the Freedom of Information Act, Mr Benson was the eighth highest earner from Tusla over the three years from 77 barristers who received fees.

The biggest fees went to David Leahy BL, (€476,973), Barry O’Donnell (€398,870), and Lana Fitzsimons (€267,044). Mr Benson’s fees were €180,695.

Tusla issued a statement in response to questions from the Irish Examiner about fees and the role played by Ms Benson in appointing legal counsel. It said internal or external solicitors will consult with the head of legal services over any request for counsel.

“A request for counsel is sent to the Head of Legal Services from the solicitor having carriage of the particular legal matter seeking approval to nominate a counsel,” said the statement.

“The Head of Legal Services will consult with the solicitor having carriage of the legal matter as to the counsel the solicitor recommends to deal with the particular matter.”

Several criteria are taken into account in nominating counsel, including:

The statement said: “Having consulted and discussed the matter with the solicitor seeking to appoint counsel the Head of Legal Services makes a decision on approval. These approvals are then inputted on Tusla’s management information system, which is operated by an external management consultancy firm.

“All nominations and approvals are discussed and reviewed at Tusla’s monthly legal management meeting with our external management firm. These approvals are also notified to a senior member of staff within the COO’s office who attends the monthly legal management meeting.”

Questions about any role Ms Benson may have had in nominating her brother or if any policy exists on retaining the services of relatives were not addressed.

Attempts to contact Mr Benson via his law library email and by phone were unsuccessful. Tusla stated that it does not have a barristers’ panel from which it selects counsel but nominates on the criteria set out above.

However, the agency did accept that it has a list of barristers to call on for special care work which often involves emergency hearings. The list includes Barry O’Donnell and David Leahy.