Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

I am pleased the Minister, Deputy Roche, came to the House tonight. This matter has received general approval and agreement. This move came from Judge Mahon and, as Leader, I would like to pay tribute to both Judge Mahon and his predecessor, Mr. Justice Flood, for the painstaking work they carried out. We all demanded and got the appropriate terms of reference for the tribunals. We laid down the salaries and conditions that would apply. Even though the changes Deputy McCreevy proposed will be introduced in March, to change salary arrangements mid-stream was difficult.

We must remember that there was a demand for these tribunals to be set up. There was a further demand to appoint more judges and I am pleased the judges will make arrangements to sit in three separate streams in which they will be able to deal with issues in a concurrent way, which will be helpful to the whole process. I have every confidence that the professionalism shown by the Mahon tribunal will continue. There was an outcry when it was reported that the tribunals would not end until 2014. Everyone said we were suffering from "tribunalitis". My response was that everyone was crying out for the tribunals, they were provided and we should now get on with it. I have always felt that one should not comment on nor throw stones at them. The work, which goes into the tribunals is very professional and time-consuming.

I share the opinions expressed regarding the costs of the legal team. The Minister said more members would be appointed to the legal team and that would be more productive and cost effective rather than otherwise.

Countries around the world have come to grips with corruption. Many have had tribunals. Many have dealt with matters in other ways, depending on the country and how it views such issues. From now on, once this is over, such matters will be dealt with by, a commission. We passed legislation in the House setting up a commission, which will be quicker and better able to take on board issues that arise. There was concern that a tribunal could discover something during its investigation that it felt must be, investigated to allow it to complete its overall report. There could not therefore be an inflexible deadline. Sub-paragraph J(3) provides that notwithstanding the dates in the terms of reference, the tribunal will also be able to investigate something that it discovers if that is necessary to enable it to make findings on the matters it is already investigating or has decided to investigate. There are full safeguards in this as it is laid out.

The Minister also consulted with the nominated representatives of the relevant political parties as the Bill was going through. The tribunal has now confirmed in writing to the Attorney General that it intends to utilise the power to sit in divisions. That is entirely correct. It cannot happen until the current module is over. Once it is, it will begin to sit in divisions.

We cannot have this every way we wish. We demanded tribunals, which we wanted to be punitive, far-reaching and comprehensive. We got them, but as soon as we did people began to say they were too costly and we should not have bothered. Matters such as this have a price. The general tenor and conduct of our country has a price. The price is the tribunal and the professional people who sit on it. This motion is timely. It is neat and understandable. I commend the Government for the way it has handled this matter.