Vol. 444 No. 3
13 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the total cost of the beef tribunal to date; if he will give a breakdown of all legal fees including Counsel fees to date; and the personnel currently engaged on work related to the completion of the report of the tribunal.
79 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he will give a breakdown and list the professional legal personnel that participated in the beef tribunal; and the professional legal personnel that have been paid to date.
80 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if his attention has been drawn to the general public disquiet and concern over the cost, length of time and number of personnel involved in the beef tribunal; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 13, 79 and 80 together.
Total payments made to date by my Department in respect of the beef tribunal are £7,276,619.95.
Over the period of the tribunal, legal fees were paid to 10 senior and junior Counsel on the state and tribunal legal teams. My Department does not have full information on the numbers of legal personnel engaged by other parties. To date, £4,535,245.50 has been paid to Counsel for the tribunal and the State in respect of legal fees. This includes an amount of £1,030,374.60 withholding tax, leaving a net figure of £3,504,870.90 of which £785,420 represents VAT. A breakdown detailing individual payments to Counsel is outlined in the tabular statement which I am circulating in the Official Report.
Apart from the sole member of the tribunal, the following personnel are currently engaged on work related to the completion of the report.
(1) A senior Counsel at the request of the sole member to summarise and correlate the vast quantity of oral and documentary evidence presented before the tribunal.
(2) A senior assistnat solicitor, a legal staff officer, a registrar, three clerical assistants and a court crier/ tipp staff to assist in the preparation of the report.
|
W/H Tax |
Nett Fee |
|
|
£ |
£ |
|
|
A. Senior Counsel |
180,861.45 |
617,393.70 |
|
B. Senior Counsel |
173,934.10 |
591,414.60 |
|
C. Junior Counsel |
93,622.90 |
315,054.60 |
|
D. Junior Counsel |
57,551.82 |
196,827.30 |
|
E. Senior Counsel |
17,782.80 |
56,414.40 |
|
Total to 20.6.94 |
523,753.07 |
1,777,104.60 |
|
W/H Tax |
Nett Fee |
|
|
£ |
£ |
|
|
A. Senior Counsel |
161,395.55 |
550,683.40 |
|
B. Senior Counsel |
193,783.20 |
660,307.20 |
|
C. Junior Counsel |
23,427.50 |
80,934.00 |
|
D. Junior Counsel |
127,691.28 |
434,713.70 |
|
E. Junior Counsel |
324.00 |
1,128.00 |
|
Total to 20.6.94 |
506,621.53 |
1,727,766.30 |
