Billy Timmins
Ceist:126 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if the two judges whom the Government promised to appoint to the Flood tribunal have been appointed; and if so, their identity. [27726/01]
Written Answers. - Tribunals of Inquiry.
The sole member has advised the Clerk of the Dáil of his intention to submit final reports to the Oireachtas in respect of the following matters: the payment of money to Mr. Raphael Burke by Mr. James Gogarty; the decisions taken by Mr. Raphael Burke in connection with Century Communications Limited; the payments made to Mr. Raphael Burke by or on behalf of Mr. Thomas Brennan and Mr. Joseph McGowan and-or companies with which they were associated. The sole member has further indicated that he will not commence the taking of further evidence until he has first rendered the above reports to the Oireachtas.
When the Dáil resolution to amend the terms of reference of the tribunal was debated in the House on 5 July 2001, the Minister for Defence stated on behalf of the Government that in order to avoid any confusion between the work of the sole member and that of the three member tribunal, the instrument setting up the three member tribunal would be made when the sole member had submitted his reports. It is a matter for the tribunal to determine when it concludes its business.
Mr. Justice Flood, in his letter to the Clerk of Dáil of 13 June 2001, indicated that investigations into rezoning decisions were currently being carried out. However, he also stated that there are, in addition, other substantive issues which appear to merit public inquiry and that these inquiries will, in some instances, be greater in scale and more complex than the inquiries already con cluded by the tribunal. He estimated that the evidential hearings in relation to these matters will take not less than two years.