Legal aid earners 'should be named'

North Antrim MLA David McIlveen, who secured the disclosure of the latest figures in a written question to the Department of Justice, says "everybody who is paid out of the public purse has to be under scrutiny."

Figures show that the ten top earning QCs have seen their earnings from legal aid fall to an average of £510,000 in 2010.

"What we need now is not just number of people, but we need these people individually identified", Mr McIlveen told UTV.

"We've seen a lot of scrutiny of public spending over the last number of months. I think it is right that the public's money should be looked at and how it is spent should be looked at."

Legal aid paid to Queen's Counsel:

^{(* Source: Department of Justice)}

The row over legal aid costs escalated in recent weeks, with solicitors in Northern Ireland withdrawing their services in opposition to the new rates proposed by the justice minister.

According to David Ford, overall legal aid costs in the region have risen from £38m to £102m in ten years, with a significantly higher cost per capita than England and Wales.

The budget for the Legal Services Commission for 2011/12 is £83.5m - against a forecast spend of some £105.4m.

This will be reduced to £75m in 2014/15, at the end of the Budget 2010 period.

"We're still paying significantly more than is being paid in England and Wales - the nearest comparable jurisdiction for legal aid and indeed that's about to reduce even further over there", Mr Ford said.

The body representing barristers in Northern Ireland has been defending the fees they earn from legal aid.

The Bar Council says the figures released by the Department of Justice are historic sums arising from a pay agreement which has now gone. It says fees will continue to fall.

"The minister seems determined to drive our fees down to the England and Wales level and he keeps using England and Wales as a comparison", Chairman of the Bar Council, Adrian Colton QC, told UTV.

"People should look to what's happening in England and Wales. There is a crisis in the Crown Court in England and Wales."

The Audit Office is due to publish its study of legal aid later this month. It is likely it will confirm that criminal legal aid is more expensive in Northern Ireland than in any other comparable developed nation.