THE TAOISEACH'S Department has received bills for £80,000 from lawyers hired by the outgoing Fianna Fail ministers in 1994 before they appeared at the committee investigating the collapse of the Fianna Fail Labour coalition.
The bills are for advice made available to the then Taoiseach and the seven other Fianna Fail ministers who constituted the government at the time after the Labour ministers had walked out over the appointment of Mr Harry Whelehan as President of the High Court.
One bill, of £36,000, is owed to Mr Garret Cooney SC - who defended Mr Cathal Ryan in the action taken by Ms Michelle Rocca - and £43,500 is owed to Patrick J Groarke and Co, a Longford solicitors firm, which has also represented the former Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, in his private capacity.
The bills have not yet been paid, according to a source, but will be after some routine bureaucratic procedures.
The decision to hire outside advice was made by the Fianna Fail cabinet on December 7th, 1994, on the proposal of Mr Reynolds. It followed a direct conflict of evidence between the Fianna Fail ministers and the Attorney General, Mr Eoghan Fitzsimons, over the events leading to that government's collapse.
The decision to retain external advisers was made after it became clear that Fianna Fail ministers would be called to give evidence to the Dail committee investigating the events leading to the fall of the previous government. The ministers chose not to use Mr Fitzsimons as their adviser - it was clear that the evidence of several ministers would be in direct conflict with that of Mr Fitzsimons.
The ministers to whom the independent legal advice was made available were Mr Reynolds, Mr Bertie Ahern, Mr David Andrews, Mr Brian Cowen, Mr Charlie McCreevy, Mr Noel Dempsey, Ms Maire Geoghegan Quinn, Mr Joe Walsh and Dr Michael Woods. It is not known which ministers actually availed of this facility.
Details of the cost of the advice were revealed in a written answer to a Dail question by the Fianna Fail backbencher Mr Ivor Callelly last week.