Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Total costs, including third party costs up to the end of 2002, appear to be less than €100 million according to the information provided by the chairman of the tribunal. That is much less than €1 billion. Did the tribunal indicate to the Minister the likely costs for the period from 2002 to date?

Is it not inappropriate for the Minister to meet the chairman of the tribunal to discuss matters relating to costs and the additional modules to be investigated because the House, not the Government, established the tribunal? The tribunal was required to decide by May 2005 what modules were to go to public investigation. Do I understand the Minister to have said that five additional modules will go to public investigation and if so has the tribunal informed him what those matters are?

Will he publish the correspondence between himself and the Mahon tribunal? The Mahon tribunal was established by the House not the Minister. The correspondence between the tribunal and the Minister is the property of the House. The Minister is the agent of the House and, with the greatest of respect the correspondence, on all these matters should be made available to the House and put into the Oireachtas Library. This is the business of the House not that of the Minister.

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