Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The answer to the Deputy's question is that, yes, several years ago, we increased both the staffing and fee levels of the tribunals. In 2004 we introduced new legislation to increase the number of judges and to attempt to speed up the modules. We did this when the tribunal indicated it would not finish its work until 2016. At that stage we introduced a new regime which ends at the end of this month. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is in discussions with the tribunal as to how agreement may be reached on the modules and the fees for the future.

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