The Government has deferred a decision on lowering lawyers' fees at the Mahon tribunal, pending a meeting between the tribunal chairman and Minister for the Environment Dick Roche scheduled for later this week.
Mr Roche did not rule out the possibility of maintaining fees at their current level given that the tribunal will not meet its original deadline to finish its public hearings by the end of next month.
In 2004 the tribunal told the Government it would be finished its public hearings by the end of March 2007. Mr Roche agreed in the Dáil yesterday that it had been decided that lower fees would come into operation from March 31st this year.
Strongly hinting that the current fee levels may be maintained beyond that date, he said: "There is to be a dialogue between me and the tribunal on the timetable issue. The tribunal can fairly put forward a case that legal actions have impeded its work. The tribunal has a case to make and we must listen to it."
A Government spokeswoman said last night that fees would stay at their current level beyond the end of March unless the Cabinet made a decision in the meantime to lower them.
Mr Roche told the Dáil yesterday that he was taking up an invitation to meet tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon to discuss "duration and costs".
He said that on December 15th last, Judge Mahon advised that the tribunal's public hearings would not be completed by March 31st, the target date identified in 2004. Mr Roche said the chairman anticipated in correspondence that the tribunal would be involved in public hearings until the end of 2007 and possibly into the early months of 2008.
Mr Roche said the tribunal has advised him that its cost amounted to more than €62 million to the end of 2006.
"Expenditure in 2006 was nearly €16.2 million, of which €6.62 million related to the legal costs of third parties represented before the tribunal in the period 1997-2002. It is estimated that outstanding third-party bills relating to this period might amount to some €5 million. The operational cost of the tribunal is approximately €10 million annually."
He said his Department did not have access to the detailed tribunal records which would be a necessary starting point for any accurate estimation of overall cost.
Asked by Labour's environment spokesman Eamonn Gilmore if it was appropriate to meet the judge, Mr Roche said he had invited him to meet him "and it would be the height of discourtesy to refuse that. We must decide how to determine what issues can be discussed."
Two weeks ago, Tánaiste Michael McDowell questioned the merits of continuing with the tribunal claiming costs could exceed €1 billion. This figure was strongly rejected by Judge Mahon who said costs would be about €300 million.