State agencies clash over judges' €400,000 expenses

THE COURTS Service has failed in its attempt to recoup more than €400,000 in travel and subsistence allowances from a government department on behalf of three judges involved in the Mahon tribunal.

The service had sought to recoup allowances for the three judges dating back to 2002 from the Department of Environment, which normally pays the tribunal’s costs. However, the department objected to bills dating so far back.

The judges’ right to claim the allowances is not in question, only the issue of which State agency must foot the bill. Under travel and subsistence rules, the judges – who are paid €177,554 each – are entitled to payments for travelling to work where those journeys are further than six miles.

After negotiations, the two sides have now agreed that the department will pay the allowances from this year on; for 2010, they come to €40,000. Talks are continuing on whether it will also pay the 2009 claims, amounting to €73,000.

It has already paid €100,000 in travel claims for Judge Alan Mahon and Judge Mary Faherty for 2007 and 2008, but will not now meet any claims for the preceding years back to 2002. The other member of the tribunal is Judge Gerald Keyes.

The Courts Service estimates that the cost of travel claims between 2002 and 2008, excluding the money paid to the two judges, is about €416,000.

According to the secretary general of the department, Geraldine Tallon, the Courts Service accepted that it might not be feasible to recoup expenses for the three judges back to 2002 and proposed new procedures in future.

Ms Tallon, in information submitted to the Public Accounts Committee, said the allowances could be recouped in future provided they were certified by the Courts Service. She said this was because the department was not familiar with the rules for such payments and could not be expected to check claims.

“The Courts Service is agreeable to this and accepts that it will hold the records in question,” she added.

A spokesman for the Courts Service described the issue as “meaningless” since the money for the allowances would come out of public funds anyway. Discussions about the issue were still ongoing, he said. He said the issue arose after an efficiency review was ordered within the service at the start of 2009. It became apparent that the three judges were working “very much full-time” at the tribunal and were not generally available to serve as judges in the Circuit Court. On this basis, the spokesman said, recoupment of the allowances was sought.

The Courts Service has pointed out that it successfully recouped allowances paid to retired Judge Peter Smithwick in 2006 and 2007 when he chaired an inquiry into fatal shooting of RUC officers.