Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

As I understand it, the figure given by the Taoiseach in respect of the total cost to date of the Moriarty tribunal, which is almost €30 million, is in respect of administration of the tribunal and the legal fees paid to the tribunal's lawyers. Does his Department have a ballpark figure for what will be the likely cost, including third party costs, that may be made by the tribunal to those who appeared before it and, presumably, co-operated with it?

The Taoiseach and those speaking on his behalf have on a number of occasions criticised the legal fees and costs of tribunals. I note an increase in recent times in the Taoiseach's criticism in this regard. As I understand it, the legal fees were set and agreed by Government. In 2004, the then Minister for Finance, Mr. Charlie McCreevy, announced at a Fianna Fáil Ard-Fheis that fees for tribunals were to be cut. He described these fees as astronomical and said it was a gravy train that had gone on long enough. We were promised in summer 2004 that the legal fees would be cut. We were again promised the fees would be cut from September 2006. We were then promised a cut in fees in respect of the Mahon tribunal from March 2007. On each occasion those deadlines arose, the Government bottled it and failed to reduce the legal fees. When is it intended to reduce legal fees for tribunals in line with what was announced previously, or is it ever intended to reduce the legal fees for tribunals?

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