FORMER REHAB GROUP chief executive Angela Kerins has submitted €2.1 million in legal costs against the Oireachtas so far, the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was told today.

The costs relate to a case taken by Kerins against the Houses of the Oireachtas over a seven-hour session of PAC questioning on 27 February 2014, which Kerins said caused her to attempt to take her own life. She subsequently resigned as CEO of Rehab on 2 April 2014.

In March 2019 the Supreme Court ruled the PAC acted unlawfully in its questioning of Kerins, later that year Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl apologised to Kerins over her treatment by members of the Committee.

The Clerk of the Dáil and secretary general of the Houses of the Oireachtas Service, Peter Finnegan, told the PAC today that the costs are subject to a legal cost adjudication process.

He said: “We have in a bill from Ms Kerins, from her legal team, for that and that is being worked through by a legal cost accountant on our behalf. The amount (involved) is €2.1m and that is for her solicitors’ fees and barristers’ fees.”

He said that, to date, there had been three sets of legal proceedings relating to the case. The €2.1m figure is related to the first module of the case. 

Finnegan said Kerins had not yet submitted all legal bills, in particular for the second module of the case involving High Court and Supreme Court hearings.

There is no estimate for these costs yet, but the Oireachtas will owe a third for the High Court discovery costs, and half for Supreme Court discovery costs.

The update came following a question from Independent TD Catherine Connolly.