asked the Minister for Finance the total amount paid to date to each senior and junior counsel in respect of the Irish Government's case against the UK Government at Strasbourg; and the total cost to the State to date of the collection and presentation of evidence, statements and attendance of witnesses on behalf of the Irish case.
Written Answers. - Court Case Costs.
65.
The total amount of fees paid to date to each senior and junior counsel retained by the Government in the case Ireland v the UK before the Commission on Human Rights is as follows:
|
A. Hederman, S.C. |
£22,467.25 |
|
R.J. O'Hanlon, S.C. |
£18,093.00 |
|
T.A. Finlay, S.C. |
£4,593.75 |
|
A. Browne, B.L. |
£21,100.00 |
|
J. Murray, B.L. |
£15,845.45 |
|
Total |
£82,099.45 |
In addition to fees to counsel, and staff costs in the Offices of the Attorney General and the Chief State Solicitor (see below), a total of £51,112.11 has been spent to date on the collection and presentation of evidence, travelling and subsistence expenses (of witnesses and of the team involved in the presentation of the case), and on miscellaneous expenses.
A sum of £3,102.59 was received from the Council of Europe in respect of the expenses of witnesses who were summoned by the Commission on Human Rights. Further recoupment of expenditure (about £5,000) is to be received from the Council. The expenses of witnesses produced on the initiative of the Irish Government are paid from Irish public funds.
Taking the receipts into account the total net expenditure on the case to date has been £130,108.97. In addition to the above expenditure a considerable amount of work on the case was performed in the Offices of the Attorney General and Chief State Solicitor. It would be extremely difficult and time consuming to estimate satisfactorily the cost of this work, and, therefore, no such estimate has been done.