Tribunals and inquiries have cost State €264m

Tribunals and other public inquiries have so far cost the Exchequer almost €264 million, according to the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.

He told the Dáil that current and completed tribunals had cost €263,836,000, of which legal fees amounted to €188,907,000. Third-party legal costs accounted for €75,444,000 of total legal costs.

Sitting tribunals have thus far cost the Exchequer €167,169,000, of which €104,323,000 were legal costs. Some €11,611,00 of the legal costs were third-party fees.

Mr Ahern said that, under the new fee structures, fees to a senior counsel would be based on the salary of a High Court judge, plus 20 per cent in respect of pension contributions, with related payments to other legal staff, including barristers and solicitors.

Green Party spokesman Dan Boyle questioned why the plan to cap fees for legal teams at €900 a day for senior counsel, proposed by former minister for finance Charlie McCreevy in 2004, was still not in place. The Government had "maintained the existing fees for barristers at all the long-standing tribunals", he said.

Mr Ahern said that the new structure represented "less than 40 per cent of the maximum current rates paid".

Outlining the fees paid in 2005, he said that senior counsel received €1,008 a day. Junior counsel were paid €672 daily. Solicitors' fees were €800 per appearance or €100 per hour for other work.

Mr Ahern insisted that the new payment fees would "drastically reduce the legal costs of new tribunals and existing ones".