The bill for the three tribunals of inquiry currently in progress has now reached £13.5 million, with the greater part of the costs for legal fees, but the meter could be running for some time yet.
At all three tribunals, Flood, Moriarty and Lindsay, the legal fees form the largest section of the costs. Senior counsel receive £1,350 a day and junior counsel £900. For a part day, senior counsel receive £165 an hour and junior counsel £110 an hour. Research counsel receive a daily rate of £350 for a senior and £300 for a junior.
Costs for Flood and Moriarty break down into administrative expenses and the legal fees of tribunal lawyers.
They do not include any legal costs awarded to other parties with legal representation, which will be decided by the sole member at the conclusion of the inquiry.
The Flood inquiry into allegations of corruption in the planning process has the largest remit. Set up in 1997, it is expected to cost significantly more than the others. With such wide terms of reference and new information being proffered to the tribunal team all the time, it will continue into the foreseeable future.
The cost of the Flood tribunal, as of June 30th last from the date it started, is £6,939,008. This breaks down to legal costs to date of £3,428,055.94p which includes VAT and excludes withholding tax. The rest, £3,510,953 is for administrative costs.
Mr Justice Flood retired on Friday, July 7th as a High Court judge when he reached 72. As with all judicial salaries, he was paid from the Central Fund but now he receives a pension like any other retired High Court judge through the Department of Finance. He will also be paid a fee by the Department of the Environment for his work at the tribunal.
The combined sums of pension and fee will not be greater than the salary he received as a judge.
The tribunal employs four senior counsel, two junior counsel and a research counsel.
The Moriarty tribunal was established in September 1997 to follow through on the work of the McCracken tribunal and inquire into the financial affairs of Mr Charles Haughey and Mr Michael Lowry.
The cost to date is £4,195,000. In 1999, the costs totalled £1.685 million and of that, £545,000 was for administration and £1.139 million legal costs. So far this year the costs have amounted to £746,000, breaking down as £141,000 for administration and £605,000 for legal costs.
Mr Justice Moriarty is being paid the normal salary of a High Court judge with no additions. The tribunal employs two fulltime counsel, one junior counsel and two research counsel.
Moriarty is expected to conclude this year and estimates for 2000 include £8 million allocated to cover legal fees which will incorporate the costs incurred by parties who have appeared before the tribunal. Further legal costs are likely to fall due next year.
The Lindsay tribunal opened in September 1999 with Circuit Court Judge Alison Lindsay as sole member. It has two senior counsel and two junior counsel. Also with a wide remit, it is expected to continue into 2001.
It is investigating how 260 people with haemophilia became infected with HIV and hepatitis C and its terms of reference include examining which products caused the infections, the criteria applied by the BTSB and its decision-making process.
The Lindsay tribunal is different from the other two inquiries in that the costs so far cover not only fees for tribunal counsel but the legal teams for the Department of Health and the Irish Haemophilia Society.
The overall cost to date is £2.417 million. This breaks down to £818,000 for administration, £1,172,000 for tribunal counsel, £308,000 for Department of Health counsel and £119,000 for IHS counsel.
The administration costs in all three tribunals include the pay of administration staff, office equipment, furniture, fittings, maintenance, couriers, advertising, postal and telecommunications, contract cleaning and stenography services.