Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The fees paid to legal teams in the Saville inquiry amounted to just half of what has been paid to the Moriarty tribunal. In 12 years, the Queen's Counsel and four junior counsel earned a total of €16.1 million, €13 million less than has been paid to the Moriarty legal team to end-April 2010, a bill which is ongoing. The Taoiseach is aware that it was the tradition that solicitors from the Office of the Chief State Solicitor would be used for the normal practice of tribunals. The highest salary in that office is €85,000. This practice was broken in the case of the Moriarty tribunal and a solicitor from private practice was engaged. Will the Taoiseach confirm that a fee of €1,000 a day has now amounted to in excess of €1.2 million for the past four years in this case? Is the Taoiseach happy that this practice was the right way to go considering the costs involved? Fees were set in 2002, seven years ago. In the context of the current economic climate and the changed circumstances in which we now find ourselves, is it intended that the scale of fees will be reconsidered for the remainder of the Moriarty tribunal?

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