Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

We will not go into that now but we were well aware of the position, which was advertised for a long time before this essentially politically-motivated argument began in recent months. Equally, the question of the referendum will be dealt with in the Seanad next week, so I do not want to anticipate the matter and thus pre-empt the Seanad's constitutional role. I am sure the matter will be dealt with in some detail.

Separate divisions of the tribunal will be possible under this legislation. The Government is pleased the Oireachtas will soon enact a clear and simple mechanism, of which the chairperson of a multi-member tribunal may wish to avail, in order for the tribunal to operate in divisions. Of course, the conduct of the Mahon tribunal, or any tribunal for that matter, is solely a matter for the chairperson.

Senator O'Meara referred to the fact that the tribunal had done a great amount of work but on the tribunal's own estimate it has an even greater amount of work still to do. It must be remembered that the bulk of the tribunal's work to date related to just one county, Dublin. That county is now divided into three administrative areas but at the time of the matters into which the tribunal is investigating, it was one administrative area. My understanding is that the tribunal has matters to investigate from every county, so clearly there is still a great volume of work to do. It would be a good thing if the tribunal could establish and put beyond reproach the names of those public figures who are not in any way involved in this or whose names, if they are investigated, remain beyond reproach. However, that concerns the work of the tribunal.

Senator Walsh referred to more general matters relating to legal costs, which is a very big area. The Minister for Finance has already expressed his concerns about that matter. Any assistance or co-operation that Senator Walsh wishes to offer in this respect will be most appreciated. I thank Senators for their assistance.