The cost of funding public tribunals and commissions of inquiry into wrongdoing by state agencies and individuals will reach close to €500m by the end of this year.

Pre-tax profits at Shannon-based aircraft maintenance firm, Atlantic Aviation Group, almost doubled, last year, to €1.48m.

Red Flag Consulting has disputed businessman Denis O’Brien’s claim he is entitled to know the identity of its client for a dossier of allegedly defamatory material about him, including describing him as “Ireland’s Berlusconi”.

NOW that the initial response to last Monday’s teen-concert massacre in Manchester moves from the “what” and “who” phase to the “why” phase the question that has confounded Europe for decades returns to centre stage: “Why do young men like Salman Abedi — and Paris killers Chérif Kouachi, Saïd Kouachi and Amedy Coulibaly — turn so violently against the society that offers them refuge?”

Almost €22m of taxpayers’ money will be spent by the end of the year on just six of the 15 investigations and tribunals that have been announced by Government.

Two cabinet colleagues have rejected suggestions Finance Minister Michael Noonan should stand aside, as he is now the subject of an interested party in three separate commissions of inquiry.

The Taoiseach may claim he saved Ireland from recession, but 10 commissions, inquiries, and tribunals tell a different tale, writes Political Correspondent Fiachra Ó Cionnaith

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There are commisisons of investigation afoot into alleged garda malpractice and alleged ticket touting at the Olympics. The Nama inquiry is just another problem being long-fingered by the Coalition, writes Michael Clifford

The Denis O’Brien-controlled Irish engineering company, Actavo — formerly Siteserv — recorded a 25% increase in pre-tax profit last year, helped by €99.5m in revenue from its Irish operations.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today

The State will face a bill of at least €10m to fund the investigation into the 2012 sale of Siteserv by the IBRC to a company owned by billionaire businessman Denis O’Brien.

Proposals to prioritise an investigation into the controversial IBRC sale of the company Siteserv to billionaire Denis O’Brien will be discussed between Enda Kenny and opposition leaders today.

Fresh legislation to empower a judge to fully investigate the sale of assets from the former Anglo Irish Bank could be ready next month, a meeting between party leaders was told.

Irish Water has admitted it signed a 10-year, €16m lease extension to its corporate headquarters just days after the general election — despite growing concerns about its future.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is considering a “full-blown” Moriarty tribunal-style inquiry into the IBRC and Siteserv saga due to ongoing difficulties facing the investigation.

Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been criticised by Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy for breaking his promise to bring emergency legislation in to rescue the Cregan inquiry into certain transactions at IBRC.

The population of this constituency has, like many other commuter belt areas, increased in recent years.

WE have, since Sigmund Freud developed psychoanalysis as one of the most powerful tools in self-realisation just over a century ago, myriad ways of trying to make ourselves comfortable in our skins, of trying to make ourselves fit into the world we find ourselves flickering through like a fairy light blinking on a Christmas tree. 

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has ruled out establishing a €100m tribunal into IBRC deals that could last over a decade and has said a solution to the botched inquiry will not be agreed before the general election.

A High Court judge has overturned an order dissolving Siteserv, the firm whose sale by State-owned IBRC to a company of billionaire businessman Denis O’Brien is being investigated by a commission of inquiry.

Enda Kenny has said a report into the sale of Siteserv by IBRC could take until the end of next year — even if the inquiry judge is granted extra powers and resources.

The chairman of the banking inquiry has ruled out any so-called ‘minority’ report being part of the probe, as members scramble to bring the investigation back from the brink of collapse.

Growing criticism over the botched inquiry into IBRC’s transactions has prompted calls for the Government to prioritise a probe into the controversial Siteserv sale.

The inquiry examining transactions by IBRC has said its hands are tied in deciding whether to overrule a claim of confidentiality over 200,000 documents received on debt write-offs.