Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have asked the Taoiseach about a matter related to the Tribunals of Inquiry Bill 2005 on a number of occasions in recent days and previously in recent years. I am sure he is well aware of the contents of that Bill. Has he, his Department or the Cabinet, but more so he and his Department, considered introducing the cost-saving elements of that legislation in the form of emergency legislation given that we are about to establish a tribunal of inquiry? The Taoiseach mentioned to the chairperson, and rightly so, that anybody appearing before a tribunal is entitled to full legal representation. The Tribunals of Inquiry Bill, which was introduced on foot of a Law Reform Commission report, following on from a recommendation in the Moriarty tribunal, made it clear that the judge would indicate to each witness the level of legal representation that would be paid by the State. It would be up to the individual whether they wanted to beef that up at their own cost. It also allowed for the Minister to set regulations that would limit the amount that could be paid to members of the legal profession on an hourly rate. The crazy scenario is that some of the costs in the Estimates, with which we are dealing, have been paid out to public relations consultants as witnesses tramped into different tribunals of investigation. Public relations consultants who were working to spin a line to the media and to the public were able to recoup their costs fully from the State as a result of that. The 2005 legislation would have prevented that from happening. It requires the sole member, or those presiding over a tribunal of investigation, after 30 days of its establishment and within 60 days of it, to give an indication of the costs associated with the tribunal. The sole member would be in a position to do so because he would know the witnesses who were coming forward, the legal representation costs that the State is willing to pay and he would have been aware of the regulations the Minister would introduce to impose a limit on the amount to be paid.

The Taoiseach spoke to the chairperson about the costs involved in the tribunal of inquiry into payments to politicians, which were more than €100 million, and in the Moriarty tribunal, which were more than €54 million with another €10 million to be paid out. I understand the urgency in making sure that we get justice and truth for Maurice McCabe, Keith Harrison and for others who have been wronged, in my view, in this situation, but surely there is an onus on us that when we have legislation on this area, which passed Committee Stage, was before the Houses for 11 years and that was approved by the Attorney General, to use it. There were contentious parts of it related to the right of a Government to suppress the report of a tribunal in the cases of national security or relations with third member states, which could be forgotten, but the core elements of it, which came from a Law Reform Commission report and a recommendation of the Moriarty tribunal, could be introduced in this House and in the Seanad in a very short period and the tribunal of investigation we are setting up could take place under new laws that would not allow for the type of gravy train that we possibly could see from members of the legal professional and people who would come before the tribunal.