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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 11 Nov 2003

Vol. 574 No. 1

Written Answers. - Tribunals of Inquiry.

John McGuinness

Ceist:

483 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for the Environment Heritage and Local Government the cost to date of the Mahon Tribunal; the number of staff involved; the number of legal representatives paid by the State involved in the Tribunal; the rates of pay per day; if those involved are paid for sitting days only; if they are paid on a full-time permanent basis for the life of the tribunal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26042/03]

Up to 7 November 2003 the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments has incurred costs of €29,297,860.06.

The tribunal has three judges and one registrar assigned to it. The tribunal's legal team consists of four senior counsel who are paid a rate of €2,250 per day, two junior counsel who are paid a rate of €1,500 per day, three solicitors, two of whom are paid €1,000 per day and the other €450 per day. Members of the tribunal's legal team are paid for the days they carry out functions on behalf of the tribunal whether this is sitting or not. The tribunal also employs three legal research counsel at a daily rate of €600, one legal researcher at a daily rate of €253.95 and two paralegals at a daily rate of €126.97.

There are nine staff from my Department assigned to the tribunal and three tip staff from the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform. The tribunal has a further 35 ancillary staff employed on a day-to-day basis.

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