Mr. Fergal O'Leary:

From 2011 to 2013, one of our predecessors, the National Consumer Agency, looked at trying to make costs more transparent in a number of professional services, including dentists and doctors. We also looked at legal fees and engaged with the Law Society. We were trying to put more information in the public domain about some of the commoditised services that a solicitor may offer such as conveyancing or making a will. We made some progress with that and I think that more prices are available. We also looked at the idea of solicitors and, in due course, barristers making known how much an hour of their time costs. We got into some difficulties about the exact specifics of how that would work. Ultimately that work was overtaken by the establishment of the LSRA, which has a specific remit in this area. We think that there should be more transparency and we will continue to work with that. To be fair to the profession about the specifics of publishing costs upfront, it can be difficult, but nevertheless it is an area in which more progress should be made and we will continue with that.