Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. Last July, a member of the Government indicated to the spokesman on justice from this side of the House that the Moriarty tribunal would end in six to nine months. Unlike any other, this tribunal is a creature of the Houses of the Oireachtas. It was commissioned by the House and, as such, we have a right to know where the tribunal is at in terms of its current workload and when it is expected to finish.

To think that it was established in 1997, has now cost €18 million, and that no interim report has been produced is simply beyond belief. The Flood and Mahon tribunal has published four interim reports, the most recent one informing the nation of the current state of the tribunal in terms of workload and projected timescale. In its terms of reference, the Moriarty tribunal has the discretion to produce interim reports. This appears to be running into the sand. Perhaps some facility could be arranged to require the Moriarty tribunal either to produce an interim report to tell us where we are after a cost of €18 million, or to set a definitive date to have it wound up, when a final report can be produced. The announcement by the previous Minister for Finance about the new schedule of fees has had a bearing in this in that there appears to have been a decision to walk if they did not get the fees that applied prior to his announcement. Does the Taoiseach accept that in the context of the Moriarty tribunal the legal personnel appear to have the upper hand? Could we have an announcement on either an interim report or a conclusion to the tribunal, because it is running for nine years at a cost of €18 million and no one appears to know what is happening?

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