Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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From the date of its establishment to the end of May 2020, the Commission has spent a total of €7,865,848, excluding third party legal costs that have been incurred but not yet paid.

A breakdown of the main categories of expenditure incurred by the Commission to date is set out in the following table:

Commission of Investigation IBRC Expenditure from Establishment Jun 2015 - May 2020	Amount
Administrative Pay	€ 1,344,948
Travel and Subsistence	€ 15,793
Training and Development and Incidental Expenses (including legal fees of Counsel retained directly by the Commission)	€4,903,819
Postal and Telecommunications	€ 65,309
Office Equipment and IT External Service	€ 812,764
Office Premises Expenses	€ 723,216
Total	€ 7,865,848

The Commission is fully independent in all its operations. Any expenditure incurred by the Commission enables it to progress its investigation and pay for the day to day costs arising. In addition to the Commission’s staff and the legal counsel it has engaged, the Commission has also incurred costs which have been paid to a broad range of suppliers who provide goods or services to the Commission for a range of functions such as IT, office equipment, electricity, office cleaning, etc.

The Commission has estimated that the final cost of the completion of the first module of its investigation, regarding the Siteserv transaction, will be from €11 - €14 million. However, this estimate assumes the investigation is completed in accordance with the timetable stated by the Commission and excludes costs or delays associated with judicial review hearings. The Commission also acknowledges that it 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. The Department of the Taoiseach has given its view on many occasions, including in briefings with Oireachtas representatives, that the final cost is likely to significantly exceed the Commission’s estimate, and could exceed €30m.