Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

I started my apprenticeship as a solicitor in January 1999, which coincided, almost to the day, with the setting up of what was then called the Flood tribunal. The first matter I had to deal with in the office was to photocopy discovery for the Flood tribunal for a number of clients — clients who were cleared and who made a positive contribution to the tribunal. That was my first experience of tribunals and I felt they were a waste of money in terms of the thousands of documents that had to be photocopied in discovery not just by us, but also by the tribunals, to be handed out to everybody. We saw in the latter stages of the tribunal documents relating to certain witnesses appearing in some newspapers at the weekend, in advance of them coming before the tribunal, which was damaging to the system.

I am glad this Bill is before the House. It is late in that many of the tribunals are coming to an end or have closed. However, every time the Government tried to introduce the Bill previously, it was accused of trying to shut down or stop the tribunals. There was major debate in the House on that and on the effect we would have on the tribunals by introducing the legislation, completely ignoring the fact that the legislation derives from the Law Reform Commission and the need for reform. I am unsure whether the current legislation was the last Act of the British Parliament here or the first Act of the Dáil after Independence. Regardless, it is that old and is no longer suitable.

We must change the process and ensure inquiries are more cost effective. I agree with Deputy Durkan on the issue of costs and tribunals. Some unqualified legal personnel were paid at half the rate of junior counsel in some of the tribunals, a massive fee to pay someone with no particular qualifications. That is outrageous. Barristers working on the tribunals made an absolute fortune just examining discovery. They are known in the trade as "discovery donkeys".

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