Who has earned what at the Moriarty Tribunal?

 

The biggest earners at the Moriarty Tribunal were the 3 Senior Counsel retained by the Tribunal itself; Jerry Healy SC, John Coughlan SC and Jacqui O’Brien SC.   Between them they earned some €25.85m.

 

Senior Counsel for the Moriarty Tribunal were paid a combination of brief fees (effectively lump sums payments) and daily rates. Typically Barristers working in the Irish Courts earn a daily rate (known as a “refresher”) for every day that they appear in Court in relation to a particular matter. However, Counsel for the Moriarty Tribunal secured an arrangement whereby they were paid a fixed daily rate; payable whether the Tribunal was actually sitting or not – it was a true “daily” rate and one that was not linked in any way to actual public sittings or appearances.

 

The daily rate paid was for many years €2,500 per day for Jerry Healy SC and John Coughlan SC- this was not for every day that the Tribunal sat; it was for every day that they turned up to work.  This was reduced to €2,000 per day towards the end of the Tribunal’s lifetime.  Tribunal Counsel were not required to actually attend at the Tribunal’s Offices at Dublin Castle in order to claim an actual “day”.   Page 89 of the C & AG’s report (Section dealing with Moriarty Tribunal) contained the following extraordinary confirmation relating to the lack of proper oversight or accountability in relation to fees claimed by the Moriarty Tribunal’s legal team:

 

“6.52 A record of the attendance of Tribunal legal team members is kept by the Tribunal.  It does not take account of arrival and deparature times, work performed by the legal team outside of the office or at weekends“

  

Jerry Healy SC, John Coughlan SC and Jacqui O’Brien SC also negotiated a “concluding brief fee” of €30,000- a form of golden handshake payable when the Tribunal wrapped up its activities.

 

Jerry Healy SC – €9.6m

   

John Coughlan SC – €9.3m

 

Jacqui O’Brien – €7.0m

 

The cost of the Moriarty Tribunal’s legal team was dealt with at Section 6.23 of the C & AG Report dated 16 December 2008:

 

“Cost of Tribunal Legal Team

 

6.23 Fees of the Tribunals legal team are projected to cost over €28 million by the conclusion of the Tribunal. In December 1997, fee rates were agreed for the Moriarty Tribunal legal team. Those rates comprised an initial brief fee of €31,743 and €20,951 for senior and junior counsel respectively together with daily refresher fees following the first 50 days of public hearings at €1,714 and €1,143 respectively.

 

6.24 Revised fee rates were agreed for the Moriarty Tribunal with effect from 24 May 2002. Concluding brief fees were set at €30,000 and €20,000 for senior and junior counsel respectively. The senior counsel daily refresher fee agreed was €2,250 but a rate of €2,500 was notified to the Tribunal in error. The Department of Finance sanctioned the higher rate quoted to the two senior counsel involved on a personal basis.

 

6.25 Although the revised junior counsel daily refresher fee agreed for all tribunals in 2002 was €1,500, a junior counsel in the Moriarty Tribunal received a daily rate higher than equivalent junior counsel because it was felt that the individual would have been appointed senior counsel but for the fact they were working for the Tribunal. The rate was effectively 80% of the senior counsel rate i.e. €2,000. In October 2003 the individual was appointed senior counsel but continues to be remunerated at a daily rate of €2,000.

 

6.26 In 2005 and 2006, two members of the legal team were upgraded from documentary research counsel to junior counsel at a rate of €1,100 per day. This was less than the rates being paid to equivalent junior counsel already engaged on tribunals.”

 

Several other lawyers engaged by the Moriarty Tribunal have joined the ranks of Ireland’s Tribunal millionaires.  The Tribunal’s Solicitor, Mr. Stuart Brady, has earned over €1.9m since joining the Tribunal in 2005.  Junior Counsel Maire Moriarty has earned in excess of €2.47m, with colleague Stephen McCullough earning over €1.9m in legal fees from the Tribunal. Legal researcher Darach McNamara BL has earned in excess of €778,000. Two other Counsel engaged by the Moriarty Tribunal shared €565,000 between them.