Justice minister looks to cap hefty legal fees

Justice Minister Helen McEntee: 'I am giving a clear commitment to introduce new guidelines to help improve the information the public will have about the costs of taking legal actions.'

The Government is working to cap the amount barristers and solicitors can charge in order to tackle hefty legal costs.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee wants to introduce new binding scales for the costs to provide greater certainty to people who access legal services or take court actions.

A Government report published last year found that legal costs in personal injuries claims that go to court are nearly 20 times higher than when cases are dealt with by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB).

The final report of the Cost of Insurance Working Group found that there is a massive variance in costs charged depending on the route taken “even though the final award is only marginally higher than the settlement as assessed by PIAB".

The new legal cost scales will be independently drawn up and will show members of the public, before they take legal action, what the cost of taking that action should be.

A key element of this work will be an examination of whether it is possible to make these scales binding, except in instances where a specific client and lawyer agree to adopt a different approach for their own costs.

“I am giving a clear commitment to introduce new guidelines to help improve the information the public will have about the costs of taking legal actions," said Ms McEntee. 

Not knowing how much legal proceedings could ultimately cost currently acts as a barrier to accessing justice and is damaging to our economy and competitiveness.

“But we must examine if we should go further and pursue the option of making these scales binding, if that is possible. This requires careful legal and economic analysis, which I will commission shortly.” 

The measure is one of 200 actions to be implemented in the next 12 months under Ms McEntee's Justice Plan being published today.

This includes a review of the civil legal aid scheme and a commitment to publish a sexual offences bill by the end of the year.

This bill will add harassment orders to the existing legislation and will also bring consistency regarding anonymity around a range of sexual offences.

Ms McEntee will legislate for an ‘honest belief of consent’ defence as part of the bill.

The plan also promises to develop and implement a scheme for the regularisation of undocumented migrants, to be launched by the autumn.

“We are all familiar with the plight of the undocumented Irish who have built their lives in the United States but have not regularised their status, even though they are an integral part of their communities," said Ms McEntee.

“We must acknowledge there are thousands of people here in Ireland in a similar position: who have started families here, work here, and contribute so much to our society but who want to regularise their position with Irish authorities."

She said the scheme will be open to applicants by the end of the year and could benefit 17,000 people, including 3,000 young people and children.

“Our scheme for the undocumented in Ireland will demonstrate a similar commitment to those who have made our country their home as we ask be shown to our own people abroad," she said.