Mr. Noel Waters:

I agree entirely, and I think one of the lessons that has been learnt around this relates to the very last one, namely, the nature of the inquiries. There is a balance to be struck as to whether the inquiries are public or - like the very last one mentioned, the O'Higgins inquiry, which is sitting at the moment - not public. The fact that it is not a public inquiry means that the costs tend to be far less. It was introduced under legislation in the mid-2000s, and that changed the entire tenor of those commissions of inquiry. I agree that it is a very significant amount of money and that ultimately we would put proposals to Government to try to minimise the costs. At the same time, we must strike a balance in terms of the public's right to know what is going on when they hear the evidence.