State asylum cases earned ex-minister's wife €1m

TD Barry Andrews and his wife Sinead

Jim Cusack

The barrister wife of former Fianna Fail minister Barry Andrews received more than a €1m for briefs from the Attorney General's office to fight asylum applications in the past five years.

Sinead McGrath BL is among eight of the earners in asylum cases who dominate the top echelons of barristers paid by the State. Mr Andrews, who was appointed chief executive of the charity GOAL in 2012, was a government minister in 2008 when the State began spending millions in legal costs to fight asylum applications in the High Court.