TRIBUNALS:THE €1 BILLION that Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has said could be saved in 2009 from the measures announced yesterday, may just be enough to pay for legal bills expected from the Moriarty and Mahon tribunals.
The two tribunals have been in existence since 1997 but have as yet to pay the vast bulk of the third-party legal costs incurred. The Morris tribunal, which was set up in 2002 to investigate certain matters to do with gardaí in Co Donegal, is currently receiving claims for third-party legal costs.
While counsel working for tribunals get paid on an ongoing basis, the legal costs of those who appear before tribunals are not paid until after tribunals have reported.
Mr Lenihan yesterday said the tribunals had indicated their intention to conclude their public hearings this year. "The costs of their operations will be reviewed by the relevant Ministers as part of the overall review of spending so that expenditure is minimised, both in the remainder of 2008 and residual costs arising in 2009."
However it is only when the tribunals finally deliver their reports that the true cost of their inquiries over the past decade will become known and payable. Both the Moriarty and Mahon tribunals could report next year.
The Moriarty tribunal, which has investigated matters to do with former taoiseach Charles Haughey and former minister Michael Lowry, could cost the exchequer €300 million or more in third-party legal costs. The Mahon tribunal, which has investigated planning matters, is expected to have an even larger bill.
Among the parties who may be looking for substantial legal costs will be: businessmen Denis O'Brien, Dermot Desmond, Owen O'Callaghan and Ben Dunne; politicians Bertie Ahern, Mr Lowry, Ray Burke and Pádraig Flynn; banks including AIB and Irish Life Permanent (owner of the former Irish Permanent Building Society and Guinness Mahon bank); companies including Norwegian telecoms company Telenor and CRH plc; and finally a number of Government departments.
Legal sources say there is no provision for accounting for inflation when awarding legal costs, so that costs incurred 10 years ago would be paid next year or in 2010, at a flat rate, as if inflation didn't exist. A recent ruling by the chairman of the Morris tribunal, Mr Justice Frederick Morris, is thought to have restricted the capacity of tribunals to withhold costs from certain third parties.