ALLEGATIONS of overcharging by solicitors representing women who qualified for equality payments are to be referred to the State solicitor's office by the Minister for Social Welfare.

Mr De Rossa was responding to a claim by Mr Michael Bell (Labour, Louth), who said that some solicitors had made no charge at all, while others had charged a handling fee as well as a percentage of the total payment made. In some cases, solicitors actually charged over £1,000 for their services and would be entitled on top of that to payment from the Department.

Mr De Rossa said that the total amount paid to date by his Department in legal fees was about £800,000, but there was no basis, at present, on which the total costs to be met by the State could be, estimated.

It would not be appropriate for him to provide details, at this stage of the legal costs paid in individual cases, in view of the fact that costs had yet to be settled in the vast majority of cases in which proceedings were initiated arising from the delay in implementing the equal treatment directive.