THE State has asked taxing master Mr James Flynn to reconsider certain elements of his £7.68 million beef tribunal costs and expenses award last year to Larry Goodman and his companies.

Mr Flynn was told yesterday that the State was specifically objecting to legal and consultancy fees, public relations, catering and accommodation costs incurred by the Goodman side during the course of the three year tribunal.

The Government appeal, expected to last five days, may be brought to the High Court in the event of the State being dissatisfied with the amount of cutbacks, if any, which Mr Flynn may make.

Yesterday, the legal cost accountant on behalf of the State, Mr Peter Fitzpatrick, challenged a £35,000 fee charged to Goodman by Mr Brian Britton, head of Britton Consultants Ltd, for a monitoring and advisory role during the tribunal.

Mr Britton had played a three pronged role before the tribunal. He had claimed a total costs bill of £92,335 for his services to Goodman as well as separate monitoring and advisory services to the tribunal and the costs of representing himself with regard to certain allegations with which he had been associated.

He said as well as carrying out a role for Goodman, he had been retained by tribunal counsel Mr Eoin Mac Gonigal SC, for advice.

At yesterday's hearing, the only part of his costs bill being questioned was his £35,000 charge to the Goodman side. Evidence relating to the remainder of the overall bill will be heard later.

Mr Britton, who was formerly financial director of Goodman International until he set up his own consultancy in 1990, said that in carrying out his three pronged role before the tribunal, he ran up a total of 615 hours over the three years.

His charge was £150 an hour and his total bill had amounted to £92,335. Of this amount, £35,000 was attributable to his work for the Goodman side. It was difficult to say where his work for Goodman stopped and his work for the tribunal started since his roles overlapped. He could not say exactly how many hours he had worked for each of the parties.

He said his company specialised in agrifood, tourism and property development projects. Normally he would deal with large multi million pound projects and would charge £150 an hour for his time. Because of his duties to the tribunal, he had to forego this money which he would have been asking of other clients.

Mr Britton said he had been granted limited representation at the tribunal on a personal basis. He had charged just over £2,900 for travel and subsistence for the overall element of his work at the tribunal.

Mr Fitzpatrick, for the State, said the £35,000 claimed for services to the Goodman side was excessive.