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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 15 Nov 2001

Vol. 544 No. 2

Written Answers. - Child Abuse.

Jan O'Sullivan

Ceist:

55 Ms O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Education and Science the progress to date in resolving the dispute over legal expenses for the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28226/01]

Section 20 of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse Act, 2000, provides that the Minister for Education and Science may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance and following consultation with the chairperson of the commission, make a scheme whereby witnesses to the commission can be paid a reasonable amount in respect of their expenses. Under that section, I made a scheme relating to travelling and related expenses of witnesses which has been in practice since shortly after the setting up of the commission.

The issue of legal expenses has been dealt with separately. In approaching this issue I have sought to ensure that witnesses to the commission will have reasonable support, at public expense, from legal advisers without infringing the provisions of the Bill, which require that proceedings in the commission be as informal as possible in the circumstances. To date, four proposals have been put forward to deal with this issue, one by the commission itself. Each of these has been rejected by a group of solicitors representing a significant number of likely witnesses who allege abuse in childhood. The most recent scheme was made by me in May, following consultation with the commission, the Office of the Attorney General and a legal costs accountant. My Department and the Office of the Attorney General, in preparing a scheme for legal expenses, have sought the views of the solicitors concerned. They have refused to make anything other than a very limited input on the basis that their primary concern is the setting up of a scheme of compensation.
The scheme for legal expenses made in May provides a fee for each item of work likely to arise in a case. The fees payable in any given case will depend on its complexity and can be up to £3,800 for a case which is heard in a day with an additional £1,500 for each subsequent day. In a more usual case lasting half a day the fees payable would be £2,500. In the circumstances I consider this scale of fees to be reasonable. However, I understand from correspondence with the commission that many of the solicitors representing potential witnesses claiming abuse are not satisfied with it. My Department and the Attorney General's Office are considering the matter further with a view to finding a resolution as soon as practicable.
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