Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

No, not today because if the whole purpose of Question Time is to answer the same question I answered on a previous occasion there is not much point in dealing with today's issue. Today's issue is whether this report is near its finalisation and what is the information that I, as Taoiseach, have received from the chairman of the tribunal. I have indicated this to the Dáil, the Dáil has raised certain questions about it and I have answered them to the best of my ability. The strong advice is I cannot speak about the workings of the tribunal so that I do not interfere in any way with the independence of the tribunal. I am prepared to talk about the costs of the tribunal and any other factual information Deputies may request. In respect of whether we have any idea when it might be completed, I have given that information. However, there are matters before the tribunal which are not before the House. The tribunal was set up so that those matters would not be dealt with in the House but rather they would be dealt with somewhere else. I can only give the information that is consistent with all of these constraints.

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