Taoiseach refuses to double fees for lawyers

THE Government has refused to increase the fees paid to lawyers involved in commissions of investigation.

The decision came after the judge overseeing the inquiry into a number of IBRC transactions, including the sale of Siteserv to a company controlled by businessman Denis O’Brien, pressed for fees paid to barristers to be almost doubled.

Currently, senior counsel working on commissions of investigation are paid €788 per day, while junior counsel earn €394.

In an interim report to the Government last December, Mr Justice Brian Cregan sought for fees to be brought in line with those paid to barristers working at the Disclosures Tribunal.

Senior counsel at the tribunal are paid €1,500 per day, while junior counsel earn €800 per day.

Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the commission maintained the current rates were “inadequate and are becoming problematic”.

He said the commission argued they were not sufficient to attract and retain counsel with the relevant commercial law experience and expertise needed to analyse the financial issues in the “enormous volume of documentation involved in this complex investigation”.

But Mr Varadkar said that following discussions with opposition parties, his department had informed the judge that the request was being refused.

The Taoiseach said concerns were expressed during those discussions about the costs involved, and the knock-on impact on the cost of other commissions of investigation if the request were to be granted.

In his report, Mr Justice Cregan said any argument that there was a difference between the work done by the Disclosures Tribunal and his commission was without merit.

He said the only difference was that the tribunal sat in public, while the commission sat in private.

However, Mr Varadkar disagreed, saying: “I don’t accept that the work involved in a commission is the same as a tribunal.”

The Taoiseach said it was estimated the commission would cost somewhere between €20m and €25m.

At present, the tribunal has been given until the end of the year to report on its first module.

Mr Varadkar said he would make inquiries to see if he could get a timeline on when it hopes to complete all of its work.