The Minister for Finance is to bring proposals to the Cabinet to reduce the cost to the State of tribunals, writes Michael O'Regan.
"There are a number of options we are addressing relating to costs, and I hope to bring proposals to the Government in due course," said Mr McCreevy.
"It is very important that the tribunals do the work efficiently as well." The Minister said that the purpose of tribunals was to find out the detail of matters of public importance.
"They were never designed to become a gravy train for legal people. That was not the intention of them. The sums of money being paid out at these tribunals are astronomical. We have to do something to ensure that we do not have these terribly onerous costs every time we have to investigate a matter."
He added that while he was sure there would always be some kind of tribunals, action had to be taken relating to costs.
He told delegates that the cost of the tribunals to the end of October of last year was about € 101 million. The State's legal costs came to €68 million, while non-legal costs came to €33 million. "When the final bills come through, the cost will be many multiples of that, and as people know we are a long way away from the end of the tribunals."
He said that he shared the concern of delegates on the issue and recalled that he had previously expressed concern about the excessive cost of the tribunals and the burden they placed on taxpayers. He added that he would consult with the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, and the Attorney General, Mr Rory Brady, on the issue. He said that he supported the Bill introduced by Mr McDowell providing for the setting up of commissions to investigate matters of public interest.
"It should be a lot less costly mechanism for dealing with these forms of inquiry."
Speaking later to journalists, Mr McCreevy said that when tribunals concluded, it was normal for the presiding judge to determine the issue of costs. "It would be reasonable to assume that the third-party costs are going to be multiples of what the State has to pay." He said that the presiding judge might decide that some of the costs should be borne by participants in the tribunal.
He said that some work had been done in the Department to ease the burden on the taxpayer. While nothing could be done about the legal costs incurred so far, something had to be done about the methodology used to reduce costs in the future.
"Some of the fees are a couple of thousand euros daily. There are people in my county living on that amount of money for a whole month. You just cannot tolerate a situation like that. While matters have to be investigated, the costs of these tribunals have to be curbed in some way," he said.
Asked if he was going to go to barristers and indicate a reduction in the rate of pay, Mr McCreevy said: "I will be bringing forward proposals in the near future, and we will see what falls out of that. This gravy train has gone on long enough."
On the economy, Mr McCreevy predicted that employment will grow this year by 23,000. He said recent indicators were encouraging and suggested that Ireland had turned the corner.
"However, economic indicators will not, of themselves, return the Irish economy to its full growth potential. That will require continued careful management of the public finances."