The HSE has its own legal office but still uses outside lawyers, writes PAUL CULLEN
THE HSE has run up a €188 million bill on external legal services in the past five years, new figures show.
Total legal expenditure amounted to almost €36 million last year, down from a peak of €45 million in 2009, the figures provided by the HSE reveal. Although the HSE has its own legal office, it still uses external lawyers across a wide range of its activities.
Last year, it reordered the way it uses outside law firms by appointing Arthur Cox to manage the services provided by 35 other solicitors in a variety of areas.
Last month, Fine Gael chairman Charlie Flanagan called on Minister of Health James Reilly to investigate the HSE’s legal costs.
Mr Flanagan questioned why the “cash-strapped” service was spending large amounts on external legal advisers when it had its own internal legal office costing €500,000 a year. He subsequently asked the Minister to set out the HSE’s total legal spending since 2007.
Dr Reilly referred the question to the executive, which supplied the TD with the figures. In its reply, the HSE says it incurs four types of legal costs: solicitor services; counsel; guardian ad litem; and third party and other costs.
Legal spending amounted to €30 million in 2007, €36 million in 2008 and €45 million in 2009. It then fell to €41 million in 2010 before shrinking further to €36 million last year.
The cost of hiring solicitors has fallen 23 per cent since the new contracting model was introduced last year, according to the HSE’s director of finance, Liam Woods. The number of hours billed also fell by 5 per cent, he said.
Mr Woods said the HSE now has full visibility of the cost of hiring solicitors and their activity, as well as full contractual compliance. He said a single national approach was being taken to the delivery of services, with a mechanism in place for measuring the performance of firms.
Mr Flanagan was concerned that the much lauded new procurement process did not appear to be producing savings. Much legal work was done in-house and was in addition to the figures revealed. “I accept that litigation in the childcare area is sensitive, essential and costly. In general, the HSE should promote mediation as an out-of-court option which facilitates earlier resolution and, consequently, better value for money.”
Two years ago, the HSE appointed a former planning tribunal barrister, Eunice O’Raw, as the new head of legal affairs. Ms O’Raw, who has retained her membership of the law library but is not practising as a barrister, is also a member of the RTÉ board.
Arthur Cox won the contract to provide legal services to the HSE, worth €58 million over three years, in the teeth of fierce competition from other leading legal firms.