Barristers paid record fees in FitzPatrick trial

Senior counsel for the prosecution and defence were paid €3,000 a day, over three times the standard rate of €858 a day for senior counsel in Circuit Court trials.

The senior barristers were paid a €40,000 brief fee to take the case, above the the normal brief fee of €1,716. The prosecution’s two junior counsel were paid brief fees of €26,400 and €16,000 respectively.

Correspondence released to the Irish Mail on Sunday following a Freedom of Information request shows the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions wrote to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform requesting the barristers be paid a higher rate due to the complexity and importance of the trial.

Mr FitzPatrick’s 127-day trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court ended when Judge John Aylmer directed an acquittal on 27 charges because the prosecution had not established a sufficient case to go to the jury.