This article is from page 4 of the 2006-11-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
A CALL was made last night for Clare County Council to establish a sub-committee to monitor the council’s ongoing spend on legal fees.
Independent councillor, Christy Curtin made the call after it emerged that the council has spent €3.648 million on legal fees over the past three years.
In response to a motion from Cllr Curtin, the council revealed that legal costs in 2006 to date were already 50 per cent higher than the outlay for last year.
The figures from the council show that €1.2 million has been spent in 2006 up from the outlay of €825,000 in 2005. This shows that in 2004, the council paid out €1.6 million.
The largest recipient over the past three has been Ennis firm and County Solicitors, Michael P Houlihan, which has received €2 million. To date, this year the company has received €757,000, while last year, it received €573,000 and €676,000 in 2004.
The next biggest recipient in 2006 to date is Desmond J Houlihan who received €210,000 from the council.
According to the council response, “The contract with the new County Solicitor (John Shaw) provides for a fixed fee structure for a range of the most repetitive transactions while a discount of 10 per cent will also apply in respect of other legal work undertaken by the County Solicitor.
It goes on: “Bill of Costs will be prepared by an independent Legal Cost Accountant and as stated a 10% discount on the Bill as prepared will apply.”
Cllr Christy Curtin has previously called for the Council to establish its own in-house legal office.
However, the Council has once more chosen to make an external appointment. Cllr Curtin told last night’s adjourned November Council meeting: “The figures involved are sizeable and I think it is prudent now to establish a sub-committee to monitor the ongoing legal costs which are a burden to the Council.
He added: “We must ensure that the Council gets value for money.”
Cllr Brian Meaney (Green) echoed Cllr Curtin’s call. He said: “I would agree with Cllr Curtin. I believe that the Council was not thinking progressively in not providing for accommodation for the legal officer in the new council headquarters. I believe that best practice is that the Council should employ its own legal officer so that the person can concentrate solely on Council business.”