Lawyers working on the existing tribunals of inquiry, such as the Mahon tribunal, could have their fees cut under a Government plan to reduce their costs, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has said.
In a proposal to be debated by the Cabinet today, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, will recommend that tribunal senior counsel should get €900 rather than €2,500 a day.
Speaking yesterday, the Taoiseach said the reduced fee system could come into operation for existing tribunals when they open up new chapters or modules in their investigations.
"We are considering what is going to happen with the number of tribunals that we are having. And we are looking into the longer term at fee structure arrangements.
"The Department of Finance has prepared a number of proposals for the Government. We have made no decisions on it yet. But we are looking at it.
"When a lot of these tribunals . . . started off seven years ago we thought that they would have quite a short span. Obviously, people are contracted to the present tribunals so we are looking at it in the context of future tribunals and different modules of these tribunals. But at this stage it is just a proposal that is being examined."
He went on: "If people are working in the middle of a module you just can't come in the middle of a module, but if there are other modules later on perhaps you then could then look at it.
"It is not the intention of the Oireachtas that this goes on for many, many years.
"But the Oireachtas is in some way responsible for that because if we don't change the terms of reference they will become never ending. They are issues that we have to look at, but we have not come to decisions yet," said the Taoiseach.
However, the changes could cause new difficulties given that the Government was forced to set the high daily rates because top barristers would not join the tribunals for less.
If accepted by the Cabinet, the new fees will mean the Government will have to hire younger, less experienced barristers for tribunals.
Indeed, the Minister for Justice was forced to agree substantial increases for the legal teams working on the Mahon tribunal and the Moriarty tribunal when lawyers on the Barr tribunal struck a better deal.
Under the Minister for Finance's plans, which may not be cleared by the Cabinet today, tribunal barristers' salary would be linked to that of a High Court judge.
Last night, the chairman of the Bar Council, Mr Conor Maguire, said there had been "no contact" with the Government on the issue of pay.
Emphasising that the Bar Council does not represent barristers on pay and does not set fees, Mr Maguire said "the market" would dictate legal fees.
However, he doubted if existing fees could be touched: "I do not see how you could impose that. They were freely negotiated by the individuals concerned."