Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

It is safe to say that officials in my Department have been in contact with Mr. Justice Smithwick in respect of the ongoing development of his investigation. It is also fair to say that he is endeavouring to carry out much of the work outside of public session to obviate the necessity for long public hearings. He does not have the full say in respect of how long the hearings will take place because if people are implicated in it, they must have the opportunity to query anything that goes on.

In respect of value for money, the fees paid to the inquiry's legal team were originally capped by virtue of the Government decision in 2004 to limit the level of fees payable to lawyers in such cases. These fees have been further reduced as a result of the Government's actions in 2009 to reduce public expenditure. Ultimately, we will not know whether the tribunal is value for money until it reports to the House. However, given the fact that the House gave Mr. Justice Smithwick his job, we can safely say he will report to the House on an interim basis after the ten days of public hearing to indicate how far he has progressed and at that stage we will know more. The Deputy was among those who set up the tribunal, it was not the Government. Mr. Justice Smithwick would have to be cognisant of the views expressed in the Oireachtas.

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