Taxpayer foots Desmond’s €1.2m legal bill from tribunal

THE taxpayer footed a €1.2million legal bill for billionaire Dermot Desmond and his associates arising from their involvement in the Moriarty Tribunal.

In the biggest payment this year arising from third party legal costs in connection to the long-running tribunal, the Department of the Taoiseach has confirmed that €1.22million was paid to the businessman’s Ennis-based solicitors Michael Houlihan & Partners.

The firm acted for Dermot Desmond, Michael Walsh and Mr Desmond’s International Investment &Underwriting Ltd. However, the payout – which is inclusive of 23 per cent VAT – is more than €500,000 less than what was being claimed on behalf of Mr Desmond.

A spokesman at the Department said yesterday that the claim for costs made by Mr Desmond was for €1.767million and was lodged in September 2013.

He said that payments for third party costs to date have been for €6.6million.

He added that third party claims were originally lodged for €13.89million, representing a saving to the State of €7.27million.

In 2013, a Legal Costs Unit was established in the State Claims Agency and it handles third- party cost claims received since then in respect of the Moriarty (and Mahon) Tribunals.

The newly published records show

Largest payment to

Haughey estate

that the Department of the Taoiseach paid out a further €300,000 to solicitors in third party costs in respect of Mike Murphy Insurance Services Ltd (€173,355), Michael Tunny (€93,930), and Regina Finn (€32,710) in the second quarter. In the first quarter of this year, the tribunal paid the third party costs of KBC Bank plc of €285,886 to Arthur Cox solicitors.

Last year, the bill to the taxpayer for the Moriarty Tribunal passed the €50million mark in spite of the tribunal publishing its final report in 2011.

In the aftermath of the publication of the report, Mr Desmond accused the Moriarty Tribunal of bias.

He claimed: ‘At over 1,500 pages the Moriarty Report is the most lengthy and expensive comic ever produced.’

Last year, the Department of the Taoiseach paid €3.7million in respect of the tribunal. The largest payment was in respect of the estate of Charles Haughey, which received €2.5million or 65 per cent less than it claimed.

The Moriarty Tribunal was set up in 1997 to investigate alleged payments to former minister Michael Lowry and the late Mr Haughey with much of the tribunal’s work arising from the 1995 mobile phone licence competition.