Health Department paid ?4m fees to one legal firm last year
Tuesday October 12 2004
Malcomson Law, which represented the Irish Haemophilia Society at the Lindsay Tribunal investigating the contamination of blood products, was paid fees of ?4.08m, according to figures released by Health Minister Mary Harney.
It brings to ?12.5m the total payout to the firm for work carried out to date on behalf of the society before and during the proceedings.
The firm originally submitted a bill for ?17m, but this was reduced by the Taxing Master.
The minister told Fine Gael TD Olwyn Enright that the department's legal fees came to ?12.4m in 2003. Overall, the inquiry, which looked at HIV and Hepatitis C contamination, cost around ?35m.
New figures show the cost of health inquiries are continuing to soar. The inquiry into organ retention has risen to ?18.3m.
At the end of August it had incurred direct expenditure of ?11.5m and this includes legal teams and costs associated with the establishment, rental and administration of an office.
The department also gave ?6.7m funding to the Eastern Regional Health Authority and the Parents for Justice support group.
- Eilish O'Regan
