The tribunals - New kind of inquiry will be needed

THE Moriarty and Mahon tribunals began what should be their last summer break earlier this week.

After 11 years of investigations, hearings and a plethora of court hearings to “establish matters of urgent public concern” it is possible to hope that this is the last summer break either tribunal might have as by this time next year both bodies are expected to have finalised and possibly published their reports.

However, even after 11 years of hearings, this must remain an aspiration as it would be unwise to rule out a court challenge to either report, challenges that might further delay publication.

Before the Mahon tribunal began its summer break on Wednesday, chairman Judge Alan Mahon said he expected to finish hearing evidence by October. The Moriarty tribunal sat for three days earlier this year, but finished its public hearings in June of last year. Once public hearings are over, tribunal legal teams, including the €2,700-a-day senior counsel, will not be required.

All going well though the only thing at issue in 12 months will be the costs and they are likely to be substantial. Various estimates suggest a figure in the region of 450 million, though it may well be in excess of that. In any event it will be substantial and may well exceed the savings and cuts government is hoping to make in public spending.

So, was justice served and did the taxpayer, who will foot the bill, get value for money? Did those whose reputations were challenged get a fair hearing?

We may have to wait another year or so before a final judgement can be made on those questions but what we can say is this: the process took far too long and cost far too much. And issues were parked rather than finalised.

The length of time involved held both tribunals up to ridicule and made it easy for those threatened by them to undermine the process. They long ago fell off the public radar, not because of the issues involved but because of the disjointed and painfully slow process necessitated by the remit given to the tribunals.

A particular low point in the process came when several members of cabinet engaged in a most sinister and intimidating line of commentary during one of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s visits to Dublin Castle.

No doubt there will be debates about interpretation when the reports are published, there will great pronouncements and dancing on graves but the most important lesson is that we need a more effective and streamlined process for considering “establish matters of urgent public concern”.

Whether our government is sufficiently committed to transparency and public integrity to establish one remains to be seen.