Public Accounts Committee / Comptroller and Auditor General
The Public Accounts Committee of Dail Eireann (“PAC”) delivered its “third interim report on the procurement of legal services by public bodies” on 27 January 2011. A large part of this PAC report dealt with the costs involved in the on-going Tribunals of Inquiry in Ireland.
The activities of the Moriarty Tribunal and the huge costs and expenses associated with this Tribunal were heavily referenced in the report. A full copy of this 55-page PAC report can be accessed via the link below:
Page 16 of the Report contained some of the views of the PAC in relation to a number of features unique to the Moriarty Tribunal. The PAC specifically noted that the lawyers working for the Moriarty Tribunal had average earnings of twice the average earnings of lawyers working at the Mahon / Flood Tribunal and those at the Morris Tribunal (i.e. average earnings of €4m per lawyer for Moriarty Tribunal lawyers as compared with the average of €2m per lawyer at the other two named Tribunals).
“Paying the Tribunals’ legal fees
The Committee noted, that based on the figures in the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report that the cost for the 21 legal staff in the Mahon Tribunal is estimated at €48 million, which is an average of €2 million per staff member. The Morris Tribunal had a legal team consisting of five members. The estimated costs for it are €10 million, which, again, is an average of €2 million per staff member. The Moriarty Tribunal had a legal team of seven and estimated legal fees of €28 million, which gives an average payment of €4 million. (emphasis added)
In the context of the level of fees, the Committee learned that the largest brief fee for a senior counsel engaged by the DPP’s office would be for a murder case, which is €8,600. That covers all the preparatory work and the first day of appearance in court in what can be complex and voluminous cases and a subsequent per diem rate of €1,800. These figures stand in stark contrast to the tribunal brief fees of €30,000 and a per diem rate of €2,250 for matters that in some tribunals have lasted for over 12 years”.
The report also dealt with the number of days claimed by lawyers working for the Moriarty Tribunal
“Attendance records
The Committee referred to three senior counsel at the Moriarty Tribunal being paid €2,500 a day for an extraordinary 304 days in 2008. The Moriarty Tribunal sat in public session for an average of 20 days in each of the past three years. The report advised that there were no specific attendance records for the legal teams maintained at the Morris and Mahon Tribunals. The Moriarty Tribunal records attendance of tribunal legal team members but does not take account of arrival and departure times”
Also at Page 16 of the report, the PAC dealt with a highly controversial issue which again arose solely in the context of the Moriarty Tribunal. This relates to the significant “overpayments” made to the Tribunal’s Senior Counsel.
“Extra payments made to Moriarty Tribunal Lawyers
The Committee was exercised to learn that at the Moriarty Tribunal, an extra €1 million has been paid to counsel because of an error in the Department of the Taoiseach, where counsel have been paid a per diem rate of €2,500 instead of €2,250 and where the matter was allowed continue without rectification.
The Committee was informed that after lengthy negotiations, a rate of €2,500 per day was agreed with Moriarty senior counsel and notified to them by letter in June 2002. A few weeks later, in view of the setting of the fee of €2,250 per day for senior counsel at other tribunals, it was realised that the Moriarty rate had been agreed at a higher figure arising from a misunderstanding between the Department and those setting the fees. The Moriarty fee was reviewed again. It was considered that in view of the particular circumstances of that tribunal, the higher fee was appropriate and, following advice from the Attorney General this rate was sanctioned by the Department of Finance on a personal basis. Tribunal senior counsel were informed by letter in August 2002 that the notification of the higher rate was an error but that, as an exceptional measure, it had been sanctioned to stand on a strictly personal basis.
The Committee was informed that the Department of Finance saw no basis for paying the higher fee of €2,500 per day and having regard to this, is of the view that steps should have been taken to apply the lower fee. The Department of the Taoiseach should have acted with more vigour in refusing the higher rate of payment”
It is estimated that this “error” has resulted in additional payments to the Tribunal’s lawyers of a sum in the region of €2m. Further details of this matter can be accessed via the link below:
http://www.moriartytribunal.com/costs-of-the-moriarty-tribunal/overpayment-counsels-fees/
In concluding the chapter relating to the costs of Tribunals of Inquiry, the PAC stated as follows:
“2.6 Conclusion
The legal costs associated with tribunals that will ultimately have to be paid from public funds are huge. While there is uncertainty about third-party costs that will arise, there are agreements in place in relation to fees for counsel working for the tribunals given the number of counsel who have earned substantial fee incomes running into the millions of euro. On the third-party costs issue, the Committee recommends that all future adjudications be undertaken in a transparent manner and therefore recommends that a legal costs assessment office be established. On the issue of fees for tribunal lawyers, the Committee is of the view that a competitive tendering process would have procured these services at lower cost, and that the decision to increase the fees in 2002 should have been resisted by the State”
Special Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General into costs of Tribunals (“C & AG Report on Tribunal Costs”)
C & AG Report on Tribunal Costs
