Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 143:

In page 109, line 33, to delete “less than 15 per cent”.

As it stands, the Bill reads,

Where an adjudication concerns only legal costs as between a legal practitioner and his or her client, and the Legal Costs Adjudicator has determined that the aggregate of the amounts to be paid is less than 15 per cent lower than the aggregate of those amounts set out in the bill of costs, the party chargeable to those costs shall pay the costs of the adjudication.

Does that mean that if I cannot secure a 15% reduction, I must pay the costs of the adjudication? That is why I am seeking the change. If one can secure any reduction, does that not justify the adjudication process, in particular, with its general pro-consumer emphasis? The Minister is setting the barrier high if one has to negotiate a 15% reduction.