Justifiable anger

IS it any wonder there is public anger at how public money is spent? It is, it seems, perfectly fine to deprive women of prostheses and bras on cost grounds yet, as we reveal today, it seems equally fine to pay senior counsel almost three-and-a-half times the standard rate for trials when they are ‘complicated’. That is what happened in the trial of Seán FitzPatrick, when prosecution and defence counsel were paid a €40,000 ‘brief’ fee for taking the case and a daily ‘refresher’ fee of €3,000, instead of the circuit court’s standard fee of €858. Junior counsel received pro-rata hikes to their own fees. Not only that, they received it twice, as the first case collapsed. Between them, three counsel shared an eye-watering €1,051,527.

This was all signed off by the relevant minister Paschal Donohoe, now the new Finance Minister. Let’s hope he feels at least a little remorse for this flagrantly ridiculous sanction and is less flash with our cash in future. Barristers, by definition, have to deal with complicated cases, so paying them a premium for what they rightfully should expect is a peculiar form of lunacy – and one that would not be tolerated elsewhere. And, for the record, the State lost the case.