Watchdog concern as Mahon bill reaches €73m
Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG), John Purcell, said it was “very difficult” to estimate the cost of hidden liabilities which remain undecided by the tribunal inquiring into planning payments to politicians.
Tens of millions of euro in witness costs and their legal fees in recent years remain undecided by the inquiry and are yet to hit the taxpayer.
Mr Purcell responded yesterday to concerns raised that no third-party legal costs for witnesses have been decided since 2002.
Then-tribunal chairman, Judge Fergus Flood, stepped down on the eve of deciding cost applications. His successor, Judge Alan Mahon, has since left undecided the thorny issue of fees that date back over five years.
TD Seán Fleming yesterday asked the Department of Environment, in charge of the tribunal, what contingent liabilities were in place as the final bill for years of legal costs was still unknown.
The department’s secretary general, Geraldine Tallon, conceded there was no potential bill for the tribunal’s costs set out in their spending.
Total costs for Mahon were €72.7 million up to the end of 2007. This included the yearly tribunal running cost of €10m and €8m in third party fees, which are only up until 2002. The inquiry’s expenses were monitored by her department, said Ms Tallon.
But Mr Fleming said the €72m was a “drop in the ocean” compared to what the final bill could be. Bills still had to be paid and taxed since the inquiry’s birth, a decade ago, stressed the Fianna Fáil deputy.
“People should have a handle on what liabilities are going to fall to the state,” he said.
Mr Purcell suggested there could be provision for a reference in the department’s yearly spending for the tribunal’s potential costs.
He pledged to put the committee’s concerns about the tribunal’s “hidden liabilities” to a review group in the Department of Finance.
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