The work of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, which began in April, is being delayed because solicitors who will act for the majority of victims are holding out for legal fees which could be as high as £2,000 a day.
According to sources in the Department of Education and Science, which is dealing with the issue, two attempts to set legal fees have so far failed.
First, it was suggested that the daily figure for legal representation should be capped at £650.
Then the Government offered to pay barristers a daily fee of £815, but this was also found unacceptable even before the question of what solicitors fees should be could be settled.
The commission, under Miss Justice Laffoy, has suggested that agreement on fees between all parties, including legal representatives for religious institutions, victims etc, should be settled as quickly as possible to allow its work to be expedited.
The difficulty has arisen, sources said, because solicitors want to be paid on an open-ended basis, i.e. for their full legal costs as if they were handling ordinary court cases.
The Department, together with the Attorney General's office, is seeking to come to an arrangement which would see costs capped at an agreed level, but this will almost certainly be well above the figure of £815 a day and probably as high as £2,000 a day.
The State is concerned that in footing the cost for legal appearances, it may be faced with triple billing by solicitors covering the costs of High Court appearances in the case of victims who seek civil remedies as well as the costs of appearing before the Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse and the Tribunal of Compensation which is yet to be established by the Oireachtas.
According to Mr James MacGuill, a spokesman for some of the solicitors negotiating with the Department of Education and Science, most of the preparatory work in child-abuse cases will be done by solicitors and therefore the £815-aday fee which had been suggested for barristers would be totally inappropriate, given that the bulk of the work would be carried out by solicitors.
There were two options, Mr McGuill added. Legal representatives could apply for the same terms as solicitors appearing before the haemophilia tribunal, where the fees are up to £2,000 a day, or a solicitor's final bill could be presented to the Taxing Master for adjudication.
It was up to the Government to make a realistic offer, Mr McGuill said.