€1m. in Mayo council legal fees described as 'excessive'

MAYO County Council have released a breakdown of its legal fees for 2018, which shows they accumulated fees of over €1 million, writes Claire McNamara.

Details released under the Freedom of Information Act to The Connaught Telegraph show a total of 48 solicitors and barristers received €1,047,445 from the council.

The figures show that of the payments made to law firms in 2018, the largest was the €391,707 issued to Castlebar firm King and McEllin Solicitors.

The next highest was €107,757, paid to another Castlebar based firm, Kevin M. Bourke Solicitor.

MacHales Solicitors in Ballina received €83,201 for work carried out on behalf of the council.

A sum of €55,500 was paid to Garavan and O'Connor Solicitors, while €52,619 was paid to Patrick Butler, who is a senior counsel.

Two other law firms, who have offices in Dublin and Clare, received €76,725.

Meanwhile, John J.Gordon and Sons, a Ballina-based firm, received €30,133.

Galway-based firm MacSweeney and Co. Solicitors were paid €26,442, while Westport firm Patrick Duran and Co. received €21,347.

Áine Boyle and Conleth Bradley, who are junior and senior counsels respectively, received a combined total of €27,219.

A further seven firms received over €10,000, while the remaining firms were paid under €7,000.

Mayo County Council did not respond to a request for comment.

Councillor Gerry Murray commented: "The costs are excessive. The council should give serious consideration to having their own in house legal department.

"Sinn Féin proposed this many years ago, but failed to get any support on the issue. Specialised legal advice would still have to be obtained from outside sources, but conventional legal transactions could be dealt with efficiently and expediently in house."