One Dublin legal firm, Hayes Solicitors, received €7.3m in fees from the State Claims Agency (SCA) last year.
The €7.3m received by Hayes Solicitors was the highest amount received by a legal firm acting on behalf of the SCA in 2022.
The outlay compares to €7.5m Hayes Solicitors received from the SCA in 2021 when it was again the top paid law firm doing work on behalf of the SCA.
The SCA manages all personal injury and property claims against the State and State authorities and a substantial portion of its court work concerns medical negligence claims made against the HSE.
The SCA figures show that Hayes Solicitors received €5.03m from July to the end of December last year which was a sharp increase on the €2.278m it received from the SCA in the first six months of 2022.
A note attached to the figures states that the payments made to lawyers are a gross figure that includes VAT and Professional Services Withholding Tax (PSWT) "and include some outlays".
The €7.3m received by Hayes Solicitors in 2022 is significantly higher than the €4.06m paid to second best paid firm, Mason Hayes Curran Solicitors.
The top five legal firms received a cumulative €20.4m in fees from the SCA last year and others in the top five are Comyn Kelleher Tobin - €3.88 million; Ronan Daly Jermyn Solicitors €3.79m and Doyle Solicitors €1.38m.
The SCA figures also show that one barrister, Declan Buckley SC, has received fees of over €3m over three years from the SCA.
Mr Buckley received €1.2m last year and this followed €1.07m he received for SCA work in 2021 and €1.25m in 2020.
Mr Buckley was the only barrister to receive fees in excess of €1m last year which again are gross figures that include VAT and Professional Services Withholding Tax (PSWT).
The SCA figures show that six other barristers received fees between €500,000 and €1m - Conor Halpin SC - €808,841, Patrick Hanratty SC €779,746, Sarah Corcoran BL €707,205, Adrienne Egan SC €614,244, Brian Foley SC €563,782 and Paul McGinn BL €514,431.
Four others barristers received between €500,000 and €400,000.
They were Luan O Braonain SC €467,384; Oonagh McCrann SC €434,006, Rónán Dolan SC €405,082 and Emily Egan SC €403,269.
The SCA has panels of solicitors and barristers in place to provide legal services in respect of claims it is managing.
The panels were established under a competitive tender process and legal fees paid are as per fees tendered by the relevant panel members.
- reporting Gordon Deegan
