Castlebar councillor Frank Durcan put forward a notice of motion at the county council’s monthly meeting, that the county council should employ two in-house solicitors on a salary basis to deal with the legal business of Mayo County Council and three urban councils.
The independent councillor said that for the purposes of cost saving measures two solicitors should be hired, however county manager Peter Hynes said that the hiring of staff is an executive function, and with the current moratorium that replacement staff are not being hired, “not to mind additional posts”.
Mr Hynes said that the legal team who have represented the council have provided high quality professional advice and have had a high success rates in the courts, and are also “good value for money”.
