It has been revealed that since 2005 Trinity has spent over €4.4 million on external legal fees. The figures, released by the Irish Examiner, show that Trinity has the second highest bill of the seven Irish universities, spending over €1 million in 2008 alone.
A large part of these costs originated from human resource cases or staff disputes. In recent years Trinity has been involved in a number of high-profile industrial relations cases. This was highlighted last year when the university failed to adhere to the Labour Court’s recommendation to reinstate three members of staff who had been made redundant. The college was in conflict with both the Irish Federation of University Teachers and the Department of Education who argued that the Labour Court’s recommendation to re-employ two lecturers and one library worker was binding.
In the seven years up to 2012, a combined total of €18.75 million was spent by Ireland’s seven universities on legal costs.
Only UCC had a higher legal bill than Trinity, spending €200,000 more. Despite being the largest university in the country, UCD ranked lower than Trinity, with legal expenditure amounting to €600,000 less over the seven years. The average legal spend amongst universities in the seven-year period was well below the figure which Trinity paid, standing at €2.7 million.
