Clare Daly
Question:286. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the costs associated with the independent review mechanism, including to whom the payments were made. [3018/16]
View answerTuesday, 26 January 2016
Questions (286)
Written answers
The Deputy is referring to the mechanism established for the independent review of certain allegations of Garda misconduct, or inadequacies in the investigation of certain allegations, which have been made to me as Minister for Justice and Equality, or the Taoiseach. A panel consisting of two Senior and five Junior Counsel was established for the purpose, all selected on the basis of their experience of the criminal justice system.
The Panel has provided recommendations to me in all 320 cases submitted to them and has therefore largely concluded its work. Counsel were paid a fee on a case by case basis of €300, €550 or €800 depending on the complexity of each case. Senior Counsel additionally had a brief fee of €30,000 to oversee the operation of the mechanism and ensure consistency of approach across all the cases. Junior Counsel were paid a retention fee of €8,000.
Judge Roderic Murphy was paid approximately €19,000 in respect of his role and a further cost of €4,500 was incurred in the provision of legal assistance to him. Other briefing and case fees have arisen during the course of the Independent Review Mechanism process; however a final figure in respect of these is not yet available.