Vol. 504 No. 7
252 Mr. M. Brady asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the source from which the salary and other emoluments, if any, of the presiding judge in the Flood tribunal are being paid during the period of the tribunal. [12645/99]
253 Mr. M. Brady asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the cost to date of the Flood tribunal; the amounts paid to date to each individual counsel for the tribunal; the direct and indirect administrative costs; the amounts paid by way of fees or otherwise to persons, other than tribunal counsel, agencies or institutions inside and outside the State by or on behalf of the tribunal; and the names of these persons, agencies or institutions. [12646/99]
254 Mr. M. Brady asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if any additional amounts are being paid to the presiding judge of the Flood tribunal by way of expenses, allowances or otherwise. [12648/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 252, 253 and 254 together.
The salary of Mr. Justice Flood is being paid, as is the case with all judicial salaries, allowances and pensions, from the Central Fund. Mr. Justice Flood is not being paid any additional allowances in respect of his work for the tribunal, other than out of pocket expenses which he may incur.
Total expenditure by my Department in relation to the tribunal up to 14 May 1999 was £3,516,902. This is made up of administrative costs and legal fees. Of this, £1,399,953 relates to administrative costs, broken down into £245,427 in respect of staffing costs and £1,154,526 on day to day running costs.
Legal fees to date amount to £2,116,949 in total, including fees to counsel, the legal research assistant and solicitors, other than the salary of the solicitor assigned by the Chief State Solicitor's Office which is carried by that office. The following figures are the gross amounts, inclusive of VAT and withholding tax, paid to individual counsel up to 14 May 1999 – £462,634, £450,556, £357,191, £257,004, £155,896 and £201,949.
Over 1,000 payments in relation to administrative costs of the tribunal have been processed by my Department to date. The total costs incurred by the tribunal involve expenditure on a wide range of matters, including, for example, legal searches, specialist services, office equipment, postage and telecommunication costs, couriers, catering, cleaning, etc.
The tribunal is an independent body established pursuant to a resolution of the Houses of the Oireachtas and its activities are funded through my Department's Vote, out of which the tribunal is put in funds and costs incurred and properly certified are paid. This is, of course, subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General. The tribunal's terms of reference passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas require the tribunal to carry out its preliminary investigations in private. The identification of individual persons, agents and institutions to which payments have been made could, therefore, compromise the business of the tribunal and it would not, therefore, be appropriate to publish the details requested.
