The Government's decision to stop funding for tribunal lawyers when public hearings come to an end was "politically-motivated", according to Fine Gael Senator Eugene Regan.
It has emerged that the Cabinet decided last week to halt all payments to lawyers and associated staff in the Mahon, Moriarty and other tribunals as soon as public hearings are concluded. No provision for lawyer's fees is to be included in next year's estimates.
Senator Regan, Fine Gael's Seanad spokesman on justice, said it was the normal situation for counsel to tribunals to assist the judges in collating and writing the report. No payment will now be available for this work.
"This in some ways is an effort to frustrate the normal procedure," he said. "It is unprecedented." The Government's decision would "probably delay" the tribunal reports.
"It's not just cost-savings, that's entirely marginal at this point in time," he said. "It's unusual, it's unprecedented and I do think that it is politically-motivated. At the tail-end of these tribunals, to be interfering now with the conclusion of their work in this way is uncalled-for."
In a further development, Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea said on RTE's
The Week in Politics: "We're going to introduce legislation in the autumn when the Dáil resumes to restrict the amount of interest that can arise on costs, third-party costs."