Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The new rates or set fees paid to a senior counsel will be based on the current annual salary of a High Court judge, plus 20% in respect of pension contributions. Related payments will be paid to other legal staff, including barristers and solicitors. The new measures will drastically reduce the legal costs of new tribunals or those existing tribunals that have already changed and where the new rates will apply from a future date. The new rates represent less than 40% of the maximum current rate paid to the counsel of tribunal inquiry. The rates are at a different level to what has been the case for the past ten years. Does that answer Deputy Ó Caoláin's question?

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