Legal Aid solicitors in Ireland exposed

 

  Solicitor / Firm 2024 Gross Earnings Michael Hennessy €842,211 Aonghus McCarthy €717,056 Kenneth Cunningham €681,424 John M. Quinn €663,973 Wayne Kenny €655,644 Brian Keenan €620,324 Tracy Horan €611,816 John O'Doherty €607,515 Simon Fleming €532,195 Tony Collier €511,290 https://www.irishlegal.com/articles/highest-earners-from-criminal-legal-aid-scheme-in-2024-revealed The top-earning barristers in 2024 were: Keith Spencer BL — €832,730 Michael Bowman SC — €553,238 Colman Cody SC — €520,922 Padraig Dwyer SC — €472,274 Brendan Grehan SC — €462,511 Seamus Clarke SC — €439,688 Colm Smyth SC — €376,570 Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC — €361,891 Dominic Stuart McGinn SC — €346,716 Garnet Orange SC — €344,177

  Tanya Devitt DPP solicitors house raid , thousands found in the Attic? all covered up by DPP's office? A FORMER State legal executive was at home this week when Criminal Assets Bureau officers searched her property and found €28,000 hidden in the attic. Former DPP employee Tanya Devitt, whose husband Glen Byrne is serving a jail term for money launder- ing Kinahan Cartel funds , was at her Belfry Square address at Citywest on Thursday morning when the CAB arrived. The money was seized by the Bureau and is expected to be the subject of court proceedings in the near fut u re.

 https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/31-defence-lawyers-earn-over-e500000-each-from-criminal-legal-aid-in-2025-1863378.html 31 defence lawyers earn over €500,000 each from criminal legal aid in 2025 31 defence lawyers earned over €500,000 each (all figures incl VAT) through Criminal Legal Aid payments in 2025 as the State-funded criminal legal aid payout to lawyers last year surged by 37 per cent to a record €115.3 million. New figures provided by the Department of Justice show that three lawyers earned almost €1 million as the payout to solicitors and barristers last year under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme totalled €115.3 million - compared to €84.08 million in 2024 - a jump of €31.2 million in one year. The detailed figures show that judge Michael Bowman was the best-paid senior counsel in the country through criminal legal aid, receiving €961,821. Dublin solicitor, Michael Hennessy, retained his position as the best paid criminal legal aid solicitor, receiving €971,155 while Ke...

  https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2024/11/25/solicitor-cahir-ohiggins-sentenced-to-27-months-in-prison/ Criminal defence solicitor Cahir O’Higgins, already in prison for other offences, has been sentenced to a further 27 months dating from October 21st this year for theft and attempting to pervert the course of justice. O’Higgins was due to be released at the end of September 2025 on his earlier conviction for assault and harassment, on the basis of good behaviour. The new sentence will see him stay in jail up to April 2026, or an extra six months, presuming good behaviour. O’Higgins, of Cahir O’Higgins and Company, Kingsbride House, Parkgate Street, Dublin, was once one of the highest-earning practitioners in the criminal legal aid scheme. He is the son of former Fine Gael TDs Michael J O’Higgins and Brigid Hogan-O’Higgins, and nephew of the former chief justice Tom O’Higgins. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of assault causing harm to fellow solicitor ...

  https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/district-court/solicitor-caught-with-cocaine-at-mountjoy-to-avoid-conviction-1.3382222 A solicitor caught with cocaine in his wallet at Mountjoy Prison has been given a chance to avoid a criminal conviction after a judge accepted claims he did not know he was carrying the drug. Aonghus McCarthy (32), who claimed someone else put the drugs in his wallet at a party, was told he would get a strike out if he donated €1,250 to a drug addiction treatment centre. Judge Gerry Jones said Mr McCarthy, with an address at Wellington House, Clancy Quay, Dublin 8, was in a "noble profession" but was being treated the same as any other defendant. He had been charged in November under Section 15c of the Misuse of Drugs Act for conveying a controlled drug into Mountjoy Prison or to a person in the prison, on February 8th, 2017, a charge he denied. Cocaine worth €26 and weighing 0.33 grammes was found when his wallet was searched, Dublin D...