The State Claims Agency (SCA) has written to the Bar Council of Ireland to advise that it is seeking to establish 8 panels of Senior Counsel to provide legal services to it, such services to be provided across all court circuits, nationwide.

The panels of Senior Counsel are instructed by SCA in-house and external litigation solicitor firms to act on behalf of the State authorities whose claims are delegated to the SCA for management under the Clinical Indemnity Scheme (CIS) and General Indemnity Scheme (GIS).

Claims managed by the SCA include personal injury and property damage claims.

Who is eligible to apply?

The SCA seeks applications from Senior Counsel with relevant experience who can demonstrate a track record of acting on behalf of defendants in employers’ liability, public liability and property damage claims (GIS) and/or clinical negligence claims (CIS). Counsel anticipated to be called to the Inner Bar before December 2026 are eligible to apply.

Applications for each panel will be evaluated based on a number of factors including the requisite skill and experience demonstrated in the application, the fees tendered, and the number and quality of the other applications received for that panel.

How to apply?

The application process opens on Friday 31^st July 2026 and all applications must be received by 2:00pm on Friday 11^th September 2026. Applicants may apply for all panels where they can demonstrate that they have the requisite skills and experience.

Applications will comprise, and applicants must download, complete and submit:

Part A: Application form (common to all applicants) in PDF

AND

Part B: Tendered Fees Spreadsheet (using the appropriate sheet(s)) in Microsoft Excel

• CIS Tendered Fees for Senior Counsel
• GIS Tendered Fees for Senior Counsel

Please note: If you are applying for multiple panels, you must submit a separate application (comprising of Part A and Part B) for each panel and send this to seniorcounselpanelapplications@ntma.ie. You can tender different fees for CIS and GIS panels as the spreadsheets for tendered fees are different, but you can only tender one set of fees for all GIS panels you apply for. If different fees are tendered for more than one GIS panel, only the lowest fees submitted will be considered and will be applied to all GIS panels tendered for.

Completed applications should be submitted by email to seniorcounselpanelapplications@ntma.ie for each panel to which the applicant wishes to apply. Full details on the process, including the list of panels, and an information notice can be found at www.stateclaims.ie/news

Applications will not be reviewed until the application deadline has passed.

State Claims Agency reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to seek clarification on any aspect of a tendered application at any point in the process. Where such clarification is sought, the applicant will be notified by email and will be given the opportunity to provide clarification within 48 hours from receipt of our email.

AND

Part B: Tendered Fees Spreadsheet (using the appropriate sheet(s)) in Microsoft Excel:

Supporting Information

The documents listed below provide further information to applicants, and this list will be updated during the process, as required.

1. Information Notice on application process (including list of panels and email address for receipt of completed applications)
2. Agreement for the provision of legal services to State Claims Agency (Legal Services Agreement)
3. Frequently Asked Questions

Queries

Please direct any queries on the process to seniorcounselpanelqueries@ntma.ie. Queries must be received before 2:00pm on Wednesday 19^th August 2026. Queries received after that date may not be answered. The SCA will endeavour to publish responses to queries (with personal data removed) no later than Friday 28^th August 2026.

The SCA reserves the right to amend and/or update the documents and information during the application period.

Queries and responses relating to the process, together with any updated information or amendments to documents will be published on www.stateclaims.ie/news.

We advise applicants to regularly review this website during the application process to inform themselves of any such updates.