Gordon Deegan
The Revenue Commissioners and the Central Bank have paid out €59 million in fees to legal and accountancy service providers since the start of 2018.
According to new figures provided by the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, between January 2018 and the end of last month totals the Revenue Commissioners spent €35.3 million on legal and accountancy services. The Central Bank spend €23.7 million on similar services during the same period.
In a written Dail reply to TD Richard Boyd Barrett, Mr Donohoe stated the highest amount over the period has been paid by the Revenue Commissioners to Ivor Fitzpatrick & Co Solicitors, which received €3 million.
The figures show that Mason Hayes & Curran was paid €2.49 million, Denis I Finn Solicitors was paid €2.2 million and Kirby Healy was paid €2 million.
Other firms to receive in excess of €1 million from Revenue over the period are Byrne Wallace LLP - €1.8 million; Holmes O’Malley Sexton - €1.7 million and Pierse Fitzgibbon - €1.47 million.
The figures also show that during the period, three barristers have been fees in excess of €800,000 - they include Grainne Clohessy SC who was paid €958,928 including €452,660 last year.
Between January 2018 and the end of February 2021, Conor Bourke BL received €912,687 including €391,519 last year and Fergus Ryan BL who received €891,063.
Others to receive in excess of €500,000 are RSM Ireland - €884,915; Aidan Garcia - €638,182; Aoife Goodman SC - €634,644; Jacqueline O’Brien SC - €621,920; Noel Travers SC €550,722; Benedict O Floinn - €538,495 and Ciaran Ramsey SC - €535,855.
Accountancy firms
In a separate Dail response to Mr Boyd Barrett, the minister stated that last year the Central Bank paid out €4 million to legal and accountancy firms.
This was a sharp decrease on the outlay on accountancy firms and legal firms over the previous two years with €7.4 million spent in 2019 and €11.5 million in 2018.
The highest amount paid to an accountancy firm over the three years is Grant Thornton which received €2.75 million including €296,743 last year while Deloitte received €1.86 million, Mazars €1.66 million and EY €1.4 million.
The payments to accountancy firms by the Central Bank last year totalled €1.3 million compared to €2.1 million in 2019 and €4.95 million in 2019.
Last year, the Central Bank paid out €2.7 million to legal service providers and this followed a spend of €5.29 million in 2019.
The Central Bank has not, however, provided the names of the legal service providers.
Mr Donohoe stated that the Central Bank has told his department that the disclosure of payments to named firms “could prejudice legal proceedings”.
