Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour)
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Has Mr. O'Daly not just proved my point that there is no cost competition between practitioners offering a service? At the beginning of the meeting, we had a discussion about how UCD is not putting contracts under €60,000 out to public tender, which it should be. The State makes plumbers, electricians and all kinds of small businesses compete against each other in order to save €1,000 or €2,000. The market we use for counsel fees does not seem to use cost as a differentiator. Mr. O'Daly has said he has an indicative framework within which he works, which has been benchmarked by the private sector for how much he pays for certain work, and, therefore, if a barrister submits a fee note, it bears no relation to the payment. He also said, if somebody negotiates and offers to do the work for a lower fee, he will still return to his indicative framework. This excludes cost as a competitive angle.