Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 24:

In page 20, line 1, after “services” to insert the following:“and cases where the cost of a grant of probate is charged by the Probate Office at a higher rate to a lay person than to a legal practitioner”.

Senator Quinn and I tabled our amendment because we wanted to look at cases where the cost of a grant of probate is charged, by the probate office, at a higher rate to a lay person than to a legal practitioner. Our source of inspiration came from an article published in The Examiner on 25 November 2011. It reads: "A solicitor taking out a grant of probate on an estate valued at €750,000, pays €375 in fees. A non-solicitor taking out the same grant of probate is charged €750. It's unfair and discriminatory but that's the way it is". Do State offices charge more to lay people, by a factor of two, than to solicitors?