The payments - mostly for medical negligence cases - were made by the State Claims Agency which is responsible for dealing with personal injury and property damage claims taken against 129 State agencies including the Health Service Executive, An Garda Síochána­ and the Irish Prison Service. mostly represents the State in medical negligence cases.

Criminal payments significantly higher

However, this figure dwarves the amount paid by the State to the top-earning criminal with the highest-paid criminal prosecutor Paul O’Higgins SC, receiving €449,623. The highest earner from criminal legal aid was Michael Bowman SC, who received €457,773.

Almost €5 million paid out

The SCA paid out just under €4.8 million to the top-10-earning barristers in 2016. The second-highest-earning barrister was Declan Buckley SC who earned €886,940. Other high earners included Remy Farrell who received €211,622 and former attorney general Paul Gallagher who was paid €134,439.

First-time figures revealed

This is the first time the agency has made available the yearly amount it pays lawyers. In total, the State Claims Agency spent €24 million on external legal services, including nearly €15 million paid to 30 solicitors’ firms. The top-five-earning law firms received €10.7 million of the total.

Medical negligence makes bulk of work

Much of the work and expenditure of the agency is related to medical negligence cases relating to the HSE. In 2015, the agency managed 8,725 claims against State bodies, which had an estimated liability of €1.79 billion. More than half of this liability related to maternity services provided by the HSE.