Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions No. 1 and 2 together.

Under the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004, I am the specified Minister for both the IRBC and the NAMA commissions of investigation. Both commissions are fully independent in their investigations. The IBRC commission of investigation was established by Government order in June 2015, following consultation with Oireachtas parties. The IBRC commission's sole member is Mr. Justice Brian Cregan. It is required to investigate certain transactions, activities and management decisions at the IBRC and in its first module it is investigating the Siteserv transaction which has been identified as a matter of significant public concern in Dáil Éireann.

The IBRC commission's original deadline for reporting was 31 December 2015, but following requests from the IBRC commission and after consultation with the Opposition, its timeframe for reporting has been extended on several occasions. Most recently, in April of this year, I granted a further request from the IBRC commission for an extension of its timeframe for reporting on the Siteserv transaction, until the end of October 2021.

From the time of its establishment in June 2015 to the end of April 2021, the IBRC commission spent approximately €9,867,000, of which approximately €4.9 million was spent on legal fees. This does not include any expenditure on third-party legal costs that have been incurred but not yet paid. It will be a matter for the IBRC commission to determine the validity of any claims for third-party legal costs at the end of its investigation.

In the IBRC commission's seventh interim report in Feburary 2020, it estimated the final cost of the completion of the Siteserv investigation will be from €12 to €14.4 million. This estimate assumed the investigation would be completed by the end of 2020, not the end of October 2021, as is now the case, and excluded costs or delays associated with possible judicial review hearings.

The IBRC commission also acknowledged there was a substantial degree of uncertainty regarding the amount of costs recoverable by parties before the IBRC commission and it assumed the commission's legal costs guidelines are not successfully challenged.

The IBRC commission's ninth interim report does not provide any update on the €12 million to €14.4 million estimate but my Department has told Deputy Kelly on many occasions that the final cost is likely to significantly exceed the commission's estimate and could exceed €30 million.

The NAMA commission was established in June 2017, following consultations by the then Government with Opposition parties to investigate the sale by NAMA of its Northern Ireland portfolio, known as Project Eagle. The commission's sole member is Mr. Justice John D. Cooke. Its original deadline for reporting was 31 June 2018, but following several requests from the commission, its timeframe for reporting has been extended. Most recently, in March 2021, I granted a further request made by the NAMA commission in its tenth interim report for an extension of its timeframe for reporting until the end of September 2021.

From the date of its establishment to the end of April 2021, the NAMA commission spent a total of approximately €3.2 million, excluding any third-party legal costs that have been incurred but not yet paid. It will be a matter for the NAMA commission to determine the validity of any claims for third-party legal costs at the end of its investigation.

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