Jailed criminal defence lawyer Cahir O’Higgins earned over €200,000 in legal fees from the State’s Criminal Legal Aid Scheme in 2024 before his imprisonment for a range of offences last year, new figures show.
O’Higgins received 27 months in prison in November for a €400 theft from a client and attempting to pervert the course of justice, which followed a prison term for convictions for assault causing harm and harassment.
New figures provided by the Department of Justice show O'Higgins received €204,747 in legal aid fees during 2024 and €246,363 in 2023.
O’Higgins was initially jailed for 16 months last July for assault and harassment but his jailing was deferred to September to allow him to settle his affairs and shut down his solicitor practice.
Last September, O'Higgins announced on social media that he was closing his practice "due to a variety of circumstances".
The money O’Higgins received last year was part of €48.08 million paid out to solicitors under the scheme in 2024, which was a 5 per cent increase on the €45.66 million paid out in 2023.
The top earning solicitor in 2024 was Dublin-based Michael Hennessy, who received €842,221, followed by Aonghus McCarthy, who obtained €717,056 in criminal legal aid fees.
Asked to comment, Mr Hennessy said: “The overwhelming majority of the fees for all lawyers were earned in the district court where the individual payments were extremely low and the figures were in fact reflective of the number of disadvantaged people coming before the courts on account of social problems such as drug and alcohol addiction, homelessness, relationship breakdown and mental health issues".
Mr Hennessy said "the job is vocational and the legal aid system is an essential bulwark against injustice".
Others to feature include Cork-based solicitor Frank Buttimer, who represented the late Ian Bailey for many years. Mr Buttimer last year received €454,702.
The solicitor assigned legal aid to represent Jozef Puska for the murder of Ashling Murphy, Eoin Lysaght, received €317,751 in criminal legal aid payments last year.
Along with the €48.08 million paid out to solicitors, barristers shared an additional €36 million, made up of €21.18 million paid out to junior counsel and €14.82 million paid out to senior counsel.
In total solicitors and barristers last year received €84.08 million, which was down marginally on the record €84.9 million paid out in 2023.
The pay out is set to increase for 2025 after lawyers secured an 8 per cent increase in the fees paid to barristers and solicitors since January 1st this year.
This follows the Government allocating in Budget 2025 an additional €9 million in fees paid under the Criminal Legal Aid scheme after barristers withdrew their labour in days of protest at the criminal courts last year in protest at the failure by Government to restore a 10 per cent cut in rates imposed in 2011.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice said that the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme “is demand led”.
The top-earning senior counsel last year was Michael Bowman SC, who received €553,238.
Mr Bowman does prosecution work for the Director of Public Prosecutions. The in-demand barrister has also defended some of the most notorious killers of recent years.
This has included representing convicted killer Jozef Puska (34) in the Ashling Murphy murder trial.
Mr Bowman also represented Yousef Palani (24) for the murder of two men, Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee, in Sligo in April 2022.
The top earning barrister was Keith Spencer BL, who received €832,730.
Another junior counsel to feature on the list is former triple Olympic gold medalist Michelle Smith de Bruin BL, who last year saw her legal aid earnings total €10,528.
