Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 5, inclusive, together.

The total cost to date of the McCracken tribunal is €6.56 million. A token provision for 2008 was made to cover potential claims arising from the McCracken tribunal. Two of the parties who were granted representation before the tribunal have not yet claimed their costs. The Chief State Solicitor's Office has no method of estimating how much the claims might amount to, should they ever be submitted. However, it cannot be assumed that these parties will not claim their costs at some future point. They are entitled to these costs and prudent provision must be made in the Estimates.

As regards the Moriarty tribunal, the total cost incurred by my Department since 1997 up to 31 December 2007 was €30,466,497. For 2007, up to 31 December, the figure was €4,154,564. It is not possible at this stage to estimate the final costs.

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