Taxpayer won't pay legal costs of Oireachtas inquiry

Irish taxpayers will not have to pay the legal costs of witnesses called before the Oireachtas inquiry into CIE’s controversial mini-CTC safety system, it was announced today.

Sean Doherty, the chairman of the committee investigating the matter, announced that the 120 or so witnesses due to be called before the hearings will have to pay for their own lawyers and foot the bill for their own expenses.

Among those expected to be called are current Public Enterprise Minister Mary O’Rourke and former ministers Michael Lowry and Alan Dukes.

The Oireachtas committee is investigating how the mini-CTC system ended up costing taxpayers more than £50m when it was initially expected to cost less than £14m.

It is also investigating a deal between CIE and ESAT which allowed the phone company to lay cables by the side of Ireland’s rail network.

According to reports yesterday, these cables had been laid before the deal was given official ministerial approval and the construction work carried out by ESAT may have contributed to the mini-CTC costs over-run.