COSTS FOR tribunals and investigation commissions have reached almost €355 million, according to Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern.
This included €96 million for administration costs, €134 million for tribunal legal costs and almost €125 million for third-party legal costs claimed up to the end of August.
The third-party costs were "expected to increase substantially with the completion of almost all of the existing tribunals", the Minister said, concluding the second stage Dáil debate on the Tribunals of Inquiry Bill.
The legislation restructures how tribunals are conducted and Mr Ahern said the Bill would put in place a more efficient and cost-effective operation. It includes the process for establishment, suspension and dissolution of a tribunal.
Thomas Byrne (FF, Meath East) said the legislation was late "in that many of the tribunals are coming to an end or have closed". However, every time the Government tried to introduce the Bill previously it was accused of trying to shut down or stop the tribunals.
He added that the tribunals had to be cost-effective. "Some unqualified legal personnel were paid at half the rate of junior counsel in some of the tribunals, a massive fee to pay someone with no particular qualifications. That is outrageous."
Sinn Féin justice spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh said his party would have to oppose the legislation as currently drafted because it "could be used by future governments to stop inquiries from delivering the truth to the public and to the families of victims of collusion".
He said the Bill was similar to Britain's Inquiries Act, "which is widely viewed as having been constructed to act as a barrier to a full public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane".
