Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 14 Oct 1992

Vol. 423 No. 5

Written Answers. - Beef Tribunal.

Ivor Callely

Question:

106 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will outline (a) the detailed cost of the beef tribunal to date (b) the names of the legal teams, the interests they represent and their total fees and expenses to date (c) the total number of days the tribunal has sat; and the average length of the sittings and the total daily cost.

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. Walsh):

(a) The total expenditure up to 30 September 1992 of the Beef Tribunal is £3,564,932 as follows:

	£
Legal Expenses, Salaries, etc.	2,755,167
Miscellaneous Expenses (accommodation, office supplies, stenography services, telephones and witnesses' expenses)	809,765
(b) For Tribunal	Mr. Eoin McGonigal, S.C.
	Mr. David Byrne, S.C.
	Mr. Ray Fullam, B.L.
	Ms. Angela O'Reilly, B.L.
	Mr. David Barniville, B.L.
For Attorney General and all State authorities	Mr. Henry Hickey, S.C.
Mr. Conor J. Maguire, S.C.
	Mr. Gerard Danaher, B.L.
	Mr. Colm Ó hOisín, B.L.
For Goodman International and subsidiary companies	Mr. Dermot Gleeson, S.C.
Mr. Michael Collins, B.L.
	Mr. Ian Finlay, B.L.
For Larry Goodman	Mr. Seamus McKenna, S.C.
	Mr. Donal O'Donnell, B.L.
For Granada Television Ltd. and Brendan Solan	Mr. Niall Fennelly, S.C.
For Deputy Dick Spring	Mr. Brian McCracken, S.C.
	Mr. Gerard Durkan, B.L.
	Mr. Finbarr O'Malley, B.L.
For Zacharia Al Taher	Mr. Frank Clarke, S.C.
	Mr. William Shipsey, B.L.
For Mr. Barry	Mr. Brian
For the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union	Mr. David Hamilton, S.C.
Mr. Barry Hickson, B.L.
For S.I.P.T.U.	Mr. Ercus Stewart, S.C.
	Mr. Richard Kean, B.L.
For United Farmers Association	Mr. Paul Callan, S.C.
	Mr. Denis Vaughan-Buckley, S.C.
	Mr. Gray, B.L.
For Mr. Pat Rabbitte T.D. and Mr. Tomás Mac Giolla, T.D.	Mr. Adrian Hardiman, S.C.
Mr. Seamus Woulfe, B.L.
For Liam Marks	Mr. Barry White, S.C.
	Mr. Eamonn Coffey, B.L.
For Stokes Kennedy Crowley	Mr. Colm Condon, S.C.
	Mr. Peter Shanley, S.C.
	Mr. Michael Cush, B.L.
For Patrick McGuinness	Mr. John W.T. Judson.
For Mr. Sean Sheelan and Mr. Kevin John McDonald	Mr. James MacGuill, Solicitor.
For Mr. James Fairbairn	Mr. Reginald Weir, Q.C.
	Mr. Kevin Haugh, S.C.
	Ms. Geraldine Connolly.
For Mr. Nobody Quinn	Mr. Gareth Cooney, S.C.
	Mr. James Connolly, B.L.
For Eamonn Mackle	Mr. Sean Moylan, B.L.
	Mr. Richard Lyons, B.L.
For Gerry O'Callaghan	Mr. Niall Fennelly, S.C.
For Autozero	Mr. Kevin Feeney, S.C.
For Mr. Barry Desmond	Mr. Brian McCracken.
For Mr. J. Bruton, T.D., Mr. Barrett,
T.D., Senator Raftery	Mr. James Nugent, S.C.
For Mr. Sean Clarke	Mr. McKechnie, S.C.
	Mr. Bob Hastings, B.L.
For Deputy O'Malley	Mr. Adrian Hardiman, S.C.
	Mr. Diarmaid McGuinness.
	Mr. Hogan.
For Mr. Augustine Fitzpatrick	Mr. McEnroe, S.C.
For Mr. Pascal Phelan	Mr. O'Keeffe, S.C.
For Mr. Owen Patton	Mr. Byrne, B.L.
For the European Community	Mr. James O'Reilly S.C.
For Mr. M. O'Kennedy, T.D.	Mr. Paddy Geraghty, S.C.
	Mr. Michael Hanna, B.L.
For Mr. Oliver Murphy	Mr. Colm Allen, B.L.
For Agra Trading	R. Nesbitt.
For Mr. T. Boland	Mr. Geraghty. Ms. Flanagan.
For Mr. Pat Farrell	Mr. Paul Byrne, B.L.
	Mr. Liam Reidy, S.C.
For Ms. A. Magee	T. O'Sullivan.
For Mr. T. O'Reilly	Mr. Humphries.
For Mr. Brian Britton	Mr. George Bermingham, B.L.
For Mr. J. Stanely	M. McCann.
Total legal fees (including withholding tax) paid to date:	£2,352,039

Legal fees refer to Counsel for State and Counsel for Tribunal only. The Department does not have information on the fees being paid to other Counsel and the question of how these are to be charged is a matter for the Chairman in his final report.

(c) At 30 September 1992 the Tribunal had sat for 125 days, of these 25 were half days.

Total daily cost = £31,688.

These costs do not include the basic salary costs of the Department's staff who have not been assigned to the Tribunal but nevertheless spend a significant proportion of their time engaged on this work.

In addition several other Government Departments and agencies (including Departments of Finance, Energy, Industry and Commerce, Taoiseach, Justice, Office of the Revenue Commissioners, EC Commission, IDA, and CBF) are incurring expenses in connection with the Beef Tribunal. As of now these costs are not being charged to the Tribunal subhead in my Department's vote.