Spend by DPP on criminal barristers in 2025 hit €30.27 million
Gordon Deegan
The spend by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on barristers prosecuting cases in the criminal courts last year increased by 10.6 per cent to €30.27 million (including VAT).
New figures provided by the DPP in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request show that the spend includes the DPP last year paying out brief fees of €40,000 (excluding VAT) to barristers on two occasions.
The €40,000 brief fee, which includes all preparatory work for a trial and the first day of the trial was paid twice in relation to a ‘Sexual Offences case’.
The €40,000 brief fee last year is more than three times the standard €8,467 paid out last year to senior counsel to prosecute murder cases at the Central Criminal Court and almost six times the standard brief fee of €6,776 to senior counsel to prosecute rape cases at the Central Criminal Court.
The FOI unit confirmed that the highest daily fee or refresher fee paid to counsel last year was €2,315 and this was paid 74 times in 2025 and again related to a Sexual Offences Case.
The standard daily fee paid out to senior counsel in the Central Criminal Court last year was €1,855 and €1,237 to junior counsel.
The DPP figures show that the most expensive trial in 2025 in terms of counsel fees was €791,142 for a ‘sexual offences’ trial at the Central Criminal Court.
The figures also show that a ‘withholding information’ trial cost €188,902 in terms of counsel costs.
A ‘Fatal Offences’ trial at the Central Criminal Court cost €165,062 in counsel fees with a Competition and Consumer Protection cast costing the DPP €164,133 in counsel fees.
The highest paid prosecuting counsel for any single trial last year was paid €226,944 for an 81-day trial with another barrister receiving €221,236 for an 81 day trial.
The increase in pay to barristers by the DPP from €27.36 million in 2024 to €30.27 million in 2025 followed criminal court barristers receiving an 8 per cent increase in pay from January 1st, 2025.
The figures show that the top paid barrister working on behalf of the DPP last year received €480,715 with four others receiving over €400,000.
A further four received payments between €350,000 and €400,000 while a further nine barristers received between €300,000 and €350,000.
The highest earning barrister working on behalf of the DPP in 2024 earned €441,169.
The top paid State Solicitor in 2025 received €635,591 from the DPP with one other State Solicitor receiving over €600,000 at €630,292.
One other State Solicitor received over €550,000 at €578,497 while five others received pay in excess of €400,000.
A further eight were in the €300,000 to €400,000 earning bracket while five earned between €285,000 and €300,000.
The DPP FOI decision maker has refused to release the names of the barristers and State Solicitors concerned as access to the records concerned "would involve the disclosure of personal information".
