Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 2 March 2023

Public Accounts Committee

2021 Financial Statements of the State Claims Agency: Discussion
Chapter 20: Management of the Clinical Indemnity Scheme of the Report on the Accounts of Public Services 2021

9:30 am

Mr. Ciar?n Breen:

The Chairman is right. He may recall that the retired President of the High Court, Mr. Justice Kelly, recently sat on a group which looked at a number of things, including legal costs.

He said as part of his report that legal costs here are simply too high, and they are. We have a legal cost adjudication system that sets the tariffs for costs. I personally think, if I am being asked to comment on it, that it is overly generous. We have to live with that, however. The one area-----