DPP payments to barristers in first-half of 2016 reach €8.18m

The €1 million paid out in fees to prosecutors in the longest criminal trial in the history of the State has contributed to payments by the Director of Public Prosecutions to barristers in the first six months of this year increasing to €8.18 million.

This represents an increase of €720,000 on the €7.46 million paid to counsel for the corresponding period last year.

This year’s fees include more than €1 million paid to the four prosecutors employed by the DPP in the trial of four bankers which culminated in the jailing of former Anglo Irish Bank executives John Bowe and Willie McAteer, along with Denis Casey, who worked for Irish Life and Permanent.

The figures show the two lead prosecutors in the case, Paul O’Higgins SC and Úna Ní Raifeartaigh SC, received over €750,000 between them. Mr O’Higgins received €384,375 while Ms Ní Raifeartaigh received €369,615.

The prosecution team also included Sinead McGrath BL, who received €242,720, and Diana Stuart, who received €64,024.

Highest paid

Mr O’Higgins’s work in the trial resulted in him being the highest paid prosecutor in the country in the first six months of this year, receiving €393,141. The fees paid to Ms Ní Raifeartaigh totalled €387,718.

The third highest earning prosecutor was Ms McGrath, who received €278,606. The fourth highest earner was political commentator and newspaper columnist Noel Whelan BL, who received €142,087.

Others to receive in excess of €100,000 for the six-month period included Pauline Walley SC, €126,943; Conor Fahy BL, €126,476; Timothy O’Leary SC, €124,474; Caroline Biggs SC, €106,079; Thomas Rice BL, €103,011; and Geraldine Small BL, €101,189.