Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

In fairness to the tribunals, when the discussions took place and the then Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, announced the changes he was making, account had to be taken of the outstanding modules of the tribunals' work that were already under way. Changes were made and we passed the legislation in this House. Some of the tribunals had a much longer timescale but others were due to continue to 2011 and beyond, but the changes we made in the terms of reference meant that the timescale was tightened. In making those changes we came to an understanding to try to tidy up the work in that the existing modules must be completed. That is the reason. They had to finish the work that was ongoing and if it continued after that, there would be a different position. A number of the tribunals will finish this year or early next year. The Morris tribunal will continue to September 2006 while the Mahon tribunal will go on until March 2007.

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