Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 878: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her views on whether solicitor fees of 20% of the awards by the Residential Institutions Redress Board is an excessive charge; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10332/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The issue of legal costs relating to an application to the Residential Institutions Redress Board is addressed in section 27 of the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002. This section provides that the redress board shall pay an applicant to whom the board has made an award a reasonable amount for expenses incurred by the applicant in the preparation and presentation of the application to the board. The board also pays the costs of any proceedings instituted by the applicant that arise from the circumstances of the application to the board and to which the waiver under section 13(6) applies. In the event that agreement cannot be reached between the board and the applicant or the applicant's legal representative, the matter is referred to the taxing master of the High Court for a decision.

The redress board deals with each bill of costs separately and there is no agreement on a fixed fee of 20% per case. In the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the redress scheme, a figure of 15% was identified as an estimate for legal and other application costs and 5% for the board's administration costs. Based on information available to my Department from the redress board, the average amount paid to date in legal and other application costs, including costs of other proceedings instituted, is in the region of 15%. This level of costs is significantly below the average costs paid to date in civil cases settled by my Department.