Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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84. To ask the Taoiseach the projected costs in regard to the Commission of Investigation into IBRC. [46455/19]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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From the time of its establishment in June 2015 to the end of October this year the IBRC Commission of Investigation spent €6,682,000 approx. This does not include third party legal costs which have been incurred but not yet paid.

The Commission’s Sixth Interim Report, dated 27 March 2019, provided an estimated final cost of the completion of the first module of its investigation, regarding the Siteserv transaction, of €11 million to €14 million. However, this estimate assumes the investigation is completed in accordance with the timetable set out in the Interim Report and excludes costs or delays associated with judicial review hearings. The Commission also acknowledges that it also involves a substantial degree of uncertainty regarding the amount of costs actually recoverable by parties before the Commission, and it assumes the Commission’s Legal Costs Guidelines are not successfully challenged.

As I have informed Opposition party representatives, my Department continues to be of the view that the final cost is likely to significantly exceed the Commission's estimate, and could be of the order of €30m.