Lawyers, like other professionals, must put food on the table. One cannot expect them daily to commit unpaid to a tribunal which might continue for years. There are clear precedents for some form of interim payment, as happened in the case of the Stardust tribunal in 1981 and the Lindsay tribunal. The Stardust happened to be in the constituency of the then Taoiseach. If such a payment is not made in this case, the McBrearty family will not be at the tribunal rendering it largely meaningless and a waste of taxpayer's money.