Senior counsel at the hepatitis C tribunal of inquiry were paid £1,400 per day and a briefing fee of £15,000, according to the report, while junior counsel received a daily fee of £750 and a briefing fee of £10,000.
These fees made up almost two thirds of the total £873,500 cost of the tribunal.
These legal fees included those paid to teams appointed by the Attorney General to represent the public interest, the tribunal and the State. The report said the fees were agreed in advance by the Attorney General.
"These fees were determined on the basis of what the Attorney General considered proper and reasonable, having regard to the interests of the taxpayer, the complexity and difficulty of the issues to be determined by the tribunal, to the expertise of the counsel selected and to the present market rate for work of this nature," the report states.
The Blood Transfusion Service Board, Positive Action and the National Drugs Advisory Board were granted legal representation but claims for legal fees from those bodies had not been paid by August 31st. The BTSB claim has been lodged with the Chief State Solicitor but the other two bodies had not yet submitted claims.
By the end of August, £46.8 million had been paid out by the hepatitis compensation tribunal in 391 cases. Other costs include legal costs for 240 claimants, paid by the State, amounting to £4.5 million, tribunal members' fees of £512,000 and administration costs of £1.1 million.