Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

The Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach reported to the Committee of Public Accounts in July that the Government had decided not to enforce the decision to allow for reduced fees to be paid to counsel in attendance at the Moriarty tribunal - a decision that had been announced by the former Taoiseach as far back as 2004 - allegedly because there was a question about the capacity to retain existing counsel and if the decision to introduce the reduced legal fees was made, the prospect of holding on to some of these senior legal practitioners would be severely compromised. What role did the Taoiseach play in that decision? He must have played a central role because it was a Government decision as announced by the Secretary General of the Department at the Committee of Public Accounts.

How does the Taoiseach justify that decision in the context of the announcement five years previously by his predecessor in this Chamber that reduced legal fees would apply in the case of the Moriarty tribunal? Would the Taoiseach not have taken the view that it was time to let them sling their hook if they were not prepared to accept lower fees, particularly given that barristers come and go all the time and that there have been a number of senior counsel at different points in the course of the 12 years of the Moriarty tribunal sittings? Would it not have been better to have faced them down, rather than have capitulated and withdrawn a decision that had already been announced in the Chamber? Does the Taoiseach not consider it an obscenity that at least two senior counsel over the period of their involvement in the Moriarty tribunal are reported to have earned in excess of €8.5 million each? This is an incredible figure. Is the clock still ticking on any or all such costs and is there a prospect of any further public hearings?

With regard to the response to the questions tabled today, will the report that is signalled for publication early in the new year be the final report from the sole member of the tribunal and are we looking at closure? If not, and given the tribunal was established by the Houses of the Oireachtas, do we not have the wherewithal to bring it to a close by presenting a motion before the House? Can we bring the process to an end and instruct the sole member of the tribunal to present a full and final account of the tribunal's deliberations, hearings and conclusions?

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