€1m overpayment to lawyers 'a moral issue'

SEANAD REPORT:THE TWO lawyers mistakenly "overpaid" €1 million for tribunal work should be made to give the money back, Geraldine Feeney (FF) said.

“But, surely, in this day and age, isn’t there a moral issue here, and morally they should be made to give it back,” she said.

Seanad leader Donie Cassidy indicated that he would like to see the two senior counsel make a suitable gesture to the nation if an error had been made in good faith by a civil servant. “We will wait and see what happens in relation to this incident.” Mr Cassidy said it was entirely a matter for those involved as to what was to be done about the extra payments.

Joe O’Toole (Ind) said he agreed with Senator Frances Fitzgerald (FG) that we were looking at a society that was disintegrating in front of our eyes amid anger at the Government.

“Anger will grow and the Government will be, I think, atomised in the local elections the way things are going at the moment, and that’s not good for anyone,” he said.

There were steps that could be taken to get to grips with this state of affairs. He believed they should look at a situation where the lowest earning categories of people being forced into paying a pensions levy were relieved of this burden. In relation to the highest categories, instead of 9.9 per cent being charged, it should be reallocated as 6 per cent for extra pension and 3.9 per cent as an additional income levy.

That should be applied across the board to anyone earning over €90,000 in the public or private sector.

Mr O’Toole said the Dáil regulatory committee should investigate what had gone on in Anglo Irish Bank and in certain other financial institutions. But there could be no “delving into” individuals who might be subject to criminal proceedings down the line. “If I were in danger of criminal proceedings, I’d be rushing in here to give evidence so that it couldn’t be used against me down in the courts.”

DNA testing should be used to establish whether adults claiming relationship with unaccompanied immigrant children were “bona fide”, Maria Corrigan (FF) said.

She said that more than 300 non-national minors had gone missing from the care of the HSE. Speaking in the second stage debate on the Adoption Bill she asked Minister for Children Barry Andrews what steps were being taken to locate them. She noted that the Bill was intended to establish a system for co-operation between states in preventing trafficking and sale of children.