John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Last week, Mr. Robert Watt, Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, appeared before the committee. The Chairman raised the issue of the Fennelly commission and words were used to the effect that there should not be a blank cheque involved in that commission of investigation. I raised the issue of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, IBRC, and the uncertainty with regard to how long it will take to finalise that commission of investigation, the comments of the High Court judge who is conducting it and the warning he has given that this could be a waste of taxpayers' money. I raised this matter in the Dáil yesterday. If legislation is needed with regard to that commission of investigation, a financial analysis must be conducted and made public before any decision is taken to move on in that regard. There was agreement on the sense in that in the committee last week, given what you and others articulated, especially when the judge in question has effectively put the Government on notice that, in his opinion, it is uncertain at present as to how long this will take and he wonders whether it is a good use of public money and value for money for the taxpayer.

The committee should consider formally asking that before any new commission of investigation, or even an extension of an existing commission of investigation, is decided upon, an analysis would be conducted as to how much it would cost, including the projection over a number of years, and that it would be made public. That is a reasonable request considering that the Mahon, Moriarty and beef tribunals collectively cost the taxpayer approximately €250 million. The point of establishing these commissions of investigation was that they would not be tribunals. They would be shorter and would not amount to a blank cheque for lawyers, frankly, which is what I have seen with some of the tribunals in this country. The point was that there would be a time limit, so it would not be open-ended. The Committee of Public Accounts has a role to play in asking the Government to consider that - at the very least and before it takes any decisions on these commissions of investigation - the length of time involved must be certain and that a spending cap might be necessary.