Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The figure of €1 is present in the Estimates to keep the subhead open pending whatever might happen in respect of the two outstanding claims. Due to the passage of time, there is some thought that these may not be claimed although the two parties are entitled to claim them. A case arising from the beef tribunal is before the courts where the State is arguing that the Statute of Limitations applies. The Office of the Attorney General would be of the view that it would apply where a similar situation arises. Until that situation is clarified, the token provision remains. It will remain until that case is dealt with. If the case is dealt with successfully, we will probably remove it from the Estimates but it remains there pending the resolution of that case.

In respect of the Moriarty tribunal, I do not have a date. It has been the view for a considerable period of time that Judge Moriarty wants to complete this work and his fine report. Obviously, there are considerations around some legal actions. I have no more information on those than Deputy Gilmore. I understand that Judge Moriarty hopes to conclude it as soon as he can. Obviously, he must take some of those considerations into account and that is the only issue outstanding.

Following the work done by the former Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, some years ago, a number of the tribunals did not move to the new cost structure. Hopefully, 2008 will see the tribunal into the Donegal case and the Moriarty tribunal come to an end. We did not change the cost structure, including that for the Mahon tribunal, because of the time involved. They were set by the Government but we want to bring them all to a conclusion based on the fee structure put in place. Those fee structures are different because some of the tribunals moved to the new fee structure while others did not. For future tribunals, we have laid down a new structure which is very different from and less costly to the Exchequer than the higher structure.

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