LAWYERS AT the planning tribunal have been paid almost €4.5 million in legal fees since the inquiry held its last public hearing more than 2½ years ago.
Tribunal legal staff were paid €2.7 million in 2009, €1.58 million in 2010 and €159,000 in the first three months of this year, according to the latest figures from the Department of the Environment. This is in spite of the fact that the tribunal last sat in public on December 3rd, 2008.
The long-awaited tribunal report has been delayed once again and is not expected to appear now until the end of the year. This is about 18 months after the inquiry said it would have finished its work and 14 years after it was established.
Publication of the report was widely expected in Government circles last month but was delayed by the difficulties experienced by a three-judge inquiry in arriving at an agreed version of events to accommodate tribunal requirements, according to informed sources.
It is believed the completion of the tribunal’s work has taken far longer than expected because, for the first time, a tribunal report is being written by more than one judge. To insulate their findings against legal challenge, this has required considerable work by the three judges to ensure they agree on every line of the lengthy report and no minority opinions are delivered. It is believed these difficulties have now been surmounted.
The report could be ready by October, but it is unlikely to be published until after the presidential election.
The inquiry has lasted far longer than originally forecast because of a widening of its remit and a series of legal challenges. Some of these challenges continued after public hearings ended in 2008 but the last one was cleared through the courts last November.
Since then, the date for publication of the report, which was expected by Government in the first half of the year, has been pushed back several times.
The chairman, Judge Alan Mahon, and his colleagues, Judge Mary Faherty and Judge Gerald Keys, have largely returned to court work.
In 2008, the tribunal told the Comptroller and Auditor General it expected to wind up by April 2010. Earlier this year, it said the report would come out “within months”.
The continuing delays and a number of adverse court judgments are likely to result in an even higher cost than the €225 million estimated by the Comptroller and Auditor General in a report published in 2008.
At that time, it was expected that the inquiry would be able to withhold costs from parties who had obstructed its work but the Supreme Court substantially ruled against this approach.
The same report found that the Revenue Commissioners collected €32.5 million and the Criminal Assets Bureau €18.7 million as a result of matters raised at the tribunal.
At its height, the tribunal employed about 50 staff. For most of its duration, senior counsel earned €2,250 a day while junior counsel were paid a daily €1,500.
The inquiry created 18 “tribunal millionaires” on its legal staff, with two senior counsel, Patricia Dillon and Patrick Quinn, each earning more than €5 million.