The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, stood by his claim yesterday that the total cost of the Mahon tribunal would be close to €1 billion, despite Thursday's letter from tribunal chairman Judge Alan Mahon that the cost will be less than a third of this, writes Liam Reid, Political Reporter
The controversy over the tribunal continued yesterday, amid claims by Opposition parties that the Government's was attempting to undermine the tribunal in its claims about cost levels.
Government yesterday rejected suggestions it was attempting to close the tribunal, saying it was merely seeking clarification on costs and time from the tribunal.
However, the Department of the Environment has refused to release copies of correspondence between it and the Mahon tribunal over the issue of costs and the time the inquiry will take to complete its work.
Parts of the correspondence have been quoted from selectively by Government members to cast doubt over Judge Mahon's €300 million estimate.
Judge Mahon gave the €300 million estimate on Thursday in a letter to the Clerk of the Dáil rejecting Mr McDowell's €1 billion claim. Yesterday Mr McDowell said that, in a letter earlier this month to the Department of the Environment, Judge Mahon was unable to give any estimate as to the third-party costs.
Speaking in Gorey, Co Wexford, he said that nobody would be able to provide an accurate estimate of the final costs, as they would have to be decided on by the tribunal and go through an independent assessment before the Taxing Master in the High Court.
He maintained that the final costs would be "well above half a billion and closer to one billion".
"The Government asked the tribunal to give an estimate of third-party costs, and a fortnight ago the tribunal wasn't in a position to do so," he said. "Apparently they've been able to do some work in the meantime just because I've spoken publicly."
However, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny questioned both Mr McDowell and the Government's motives in the affair.
"It appears the Government is terrified of what might emerge from the next module of the Mahon tribunal," he said, in a reference to the forthcoming Quarryvale module, which will hear serious allegations against a number of senior Fianna Fáil figures in relation to the rezoning of the site for the Liffey Valley shopping centre.
"It does seem somewhat strange, if not sinister, and indeed stretches credibility a bit, that this Government and this Tánaiste should be raising questions about cost effectiveness 12 weeks before the general election."
Labour party environment spokesman Eamon Gilmore called on the Government to publish all of the correspondence between it and the Mahon tribunal.
"Judge Mahon has taken steps to put the tribunal's position into the public domain through the letter he sent to the Clerk of the Dáil, but what we have had from the Government is the leaking of selected extracts from the correspondence exchanged between the tribunal and Minister Roche's Department," he said. "The public are entitled to know what the Government was told by the tribunal and when they were told it."
A spokesman for Minister for the Environment Dick Roche said the Department would not be publishing the correspondence as it was "private and ongoing". He also confirmed the department had no estimates of the final cost of the tribunal.
Yesterday Judge Alan Mahon declined to comment on the matter as he left the tribunal's offices in Dublin Castle at lunchtime.