The Department of Defence has received 145 complaints from soldiers and former personnel who made Army deafness claims but who had money deducted from their settlements by their solicitors even though the department paid their legal fees.
Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea told the Dáil, however, that when he contacted the Law Society about the deductions, it pointed out that "it is not obliged to deal with any claims regarding costs charged if the case was settled more than five years ago".
Mr O'Dea said solicitors were obliged to "furnish a bill of costs" and in many of the cases the "initial estimates are also conspicuous by their absence".
The Minister told Labour's spokesman Joe Costello: "I am waiting for the Law Society to come back to me."
A total of 16,760 Army deafness claims were made to the department of which 15,605 had been settled at a cost of €280.9 million and €95 million in plaintiffs' legal costs.
Mr Costello said that combining the plaintiffs' legal fees with ongoing costs paid by the Chief State Solicitor's Office and the Defence Forces, "well over €120 million has been spent on legal fees. That is over 40 per cent of the amount of the entire claim and a whopping chunk of money for the legal profession."
The Minister agreed it was a "fairly hefty percentage", but if the costs were granted against the department as the defendant, "the defendant would have been obliged to pay them by the Taxing Master, if he was unhappy with the amount".
He said the majority of the cases had been settled more than five years ago, "but this matter only came to light recently after the revelations concerning the legal fees and the institutions' redress matter. I pointed that out to the Law Society."
The legal body "says there is such a thing as solicitor and client fees over and above the costs one recovers by winning a case. These are for extra expenses such as experts' reports".
He had told the people who complained about overcharging that "if they write to me I will give them all the necessary information to make a case to the Law Society".
The Minister added that "my attitude is to help the claimant in every way by giving him or her all the necessary information we have".
The 1994 Solicitors' Amendment Act does contain a section about cases more than five years old.
"If the Act were to be altered that would be a matter for my colleague the Minister for Justice but I believe we have grounds for talking to the Law Society on the basis that the bill of costs has not been produced in many cases and on what is called the section 68 letter outlining the fact that there may be charges other than what is received from the defendants, namely ourselves.
"I understand that was not issued in many cases," the Minister added.
Mr Costello said it was "despicable" that the Law Society "appears anxious to hide behind the solicitors Act and prevent any examination of the validity of those claims".
