Posted by Legal watchdog trying to enforce disciplinary direction
Shane Phelan
A retired solicitor who was bankrupted over tax debts of €300,000 has alleged he is owed €800,000 in legal aid fees.
John Paul Hennessy (68), better known as Ray Hennessy, made the claim in the High Court, where the legal services watchdog is seeking to enforce a disciplinary direction against him.
Mr Hennessy retired in 2023, having practised at Hennessy & Co in Bantry, Co Cork, where clients included Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder suspect Ian Bailey.
He was before the president of the High Court this week for failing to comply with a direction from the Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA) to pay compensation of €500 to a former client.
The retired solicitor told the authority last April he was unable to pay and failed to see why he should pay, prompting the LSRA to apply to the court to have its direction enforced.
But Mr Justice David Barniville adjourned the matter until January to allow the LSRA consider putting the Official Assignee in Bankruptcy on notice after Mr Hennessy said he had been adjudicated bankrupt in October.
Mr Hennessy told the judge he had been involved in “a protracted battle” with the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Justice.
He claimed the department refused to pay him around €800,000 in legal aid fees for the period between 2014 and 2022.
While this dispute was ongoing, the Revenue had him adjudicated bankrupt on October 20.
Mr Hennessy later told the Irish Independent he made a number of investments in the early 2000s that “went very wrong”. As a result, he was unable to borrow money to pay an income tax liability, and owed the Revenue more than €300,000.
Mr Hennessy claimed the legal aid payments he was due would have been more than enough to clear the tax bill. However, a Catch-22 situation arose whereby the department would not pay him because he did not have a tax clearance certificate.
In court on Monday, Mr Hennessy said the Revenue had taken his “life savings of €18,000” and that he had been refused the old age pension.
“I would be penniless and homeless were it not for my partner,” he said.
Barrister Claire Hogan, for the LSRA, said a former client of Mr Hennessy’s firm complained about an invoice for €15,312 for legal work relating to the sale of her home. The sum was withheld by the firm from the sale proceeds.
The client said she never received a letter in advance outlining the likely fees. She had been willing to pay €2,000 plus Vat, but Mr Hennessy rejected the offer.
The LSRA did not find the fee to be excessive but directed Mr Hennessy pay her €500 in compensation for not providing sufficient notice of the fee.
Mr Hennessy said the house sold for €1.25m and that, while he did not deal with the file, he had “no doubt” the client knew the fee would be 1pc of that.
The former solicitor said he objected to a comment made by Mr Justice Barniville on November 25, during a separate LSRA application.
The judge had described correspondence from the solicitor to the LSRA as “disgraceful”. In the letter, Mr Hennessy said he had no intention of complying with a direction from the authority.
Mr Justice Barniville said he stood over the comment.
Who Watches the Watchers? 