24 Oct 06 Moriarty Tribunal

The Taoiseach: I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 to 12, inclusive, together.

The total cost incurred by my Department in respect of the Moriarty tribunal from 1997 until 30 September 2006 is ?25,232,028. This includes fees paid to counsel for the tribunal and administration costs incurred since its establishment. The total payments made to the legal team were ?19,310,119 by 30 September 2006.

The administration costs for the Moriarty tribunal, including counsel fees, are met from the Vote of the Department of the Taoiseach. Issues in this regard which may be raised occasionally by officers of the tribunal are dealt with in the normal course of business by my Department. From time to time, there have been requests by the tribunal for records and files and my Department has submitted these. It will continue to co-operate with the tribunal in making available any records sought. Normally, these requests are received by the Secretary General and assigned by him to the appropriate departmental official. All requests are dealt with on a highly confidential basis, as is required by the tribunal.

(later)

Mr. Boyle: Three of the five questions before the Taoiseach on this matter deal with whether he has received communication recently from the Moriarty tribunal. I have not heard him respond to that question. I know he is a very busy man but he must have the opportunity to check his post from time to time. If he could answer the question directly, I would appreciate it, as would Deputy Sargent.

On the costs, the Government has made at least three attempts over the past two and a half years to reduce barristers' fees at the tribunals from the daily rate of ?2,500 to ?900. It was first mooted by the former Minister for Finance, now European Commissioner, in July 2004 and was abandoned by the Government in September 2004. The Taoiseach raised the matter again in September 2005 and said that if the tribunal had not completed its work by the end of June 2006, the reduced fees would apply, yet the Government, having requested a reduction for the third time, has, as of the start of July, maintained the existing fees for barristers at all the long-standing tribunals and that will remain the position until they complete their work.

Will the Taoiseach explain why the Government, having raised this issue on a number of occasions and sought to reduce the cost, which in the case of the Moriarty tribunal seems to amount to ?19 million of a total of ?25 million, has not pursued the matter? If the Government had achieved what it said it would achieve in July 2004, how much would have been saved in the two and a half years since then?

The Taoiseach: I thought I answered the first question on two occasions. We have had no information in the form of drafts or otherwise on the substance or substantial issues of the first or second Moriarty tribunal reports. There would be some limited issues in my Department and we would only have had reference to them. They would have been very minor. They would not have had anything to do with the substantive issues.

A number of years ago, when seven or eight tribunals were ongoing, the Minister for Finance and the Attorney General communicated with the chairs of all the tribunals about end dates, modules and all those issues. The dates which were agreed then were subsequently moved following consultation with the Attorney General and various Ministers with responsibility for certain matters. The end dates I have mentioned were the end of January 2007 for the Moriarty tribunal, the end of October 2007 for the Morris tribunal and the end of March 2007 for the Mahon tribunal. It was proposed that those new dates would apply.

It was also agreed that the set fee to be paid to a senior counsel would be based on the current annual salary of a High Court judge, plus 20% in respect of pension contributions, with related payments to be made to other legal staff, including barristers and solicitors. I will give details of the specific annual remuneration packages in 2005. Senior counsel received ?221,708 per annum, or ?1,008 per day. Junior counsel received ?147,806 per annum, or ?672 per day, which is two thirds of the senior counsel rate. Solicitors received ?176,000 per annum, or ?800 per day, for appearance or ?100 per hour for work undertaken other than appearing at tribunals. I am advised that the new measures will drastically reduce the legal costs of new tribunals of inquiry and will reduce the costs of existing tribunals of inquiry from the future dates I have mentioned.

Mr. Rabbitte: The surplus will be gone.

Mr. Stagg: We will have to have a flag day for them.

The Taoiseach: The new rates represent less than 40% of the maximum current rates paid to tribunals of inquiry. They give an indication of the potential savings arising in the future.