The Commission of Investigation into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974 is expected to cost just over €600,000, according to official figures.
The Government set up the commission on April 26th to investigate specific aspects of the Garda investigation into the bombings and how some documentation on the investigation went missing.
According to a notice published in the State Gazette Irish Oifigiúil, the investigation headed by barrister Patrick MacEntee SC will cost an estimated €604,880 in legal fees, salaries and other administrative costs for a six-month period. The commission has been directed to submit its final report to the Taoiseach within six months.
Mr MacEntee's commission has been asked to investigate why the Garda investigation into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings was wound down in 1974.
It will inquire into why gardaí did not follow up on certain "leads", including information that a white van, with an English registration plate, was parked outside the Department of Posts and Telegraphs in Portland Row and was later seen parked at the B & I ferry port in Dublin.
Other leads it is claimed were not followed include information relating to a man who stayed at the Four Courts Hotel between May 15th and 17th, 1974, and his contacts with the UVF, and information concerning a British Army corporal allegedly sighted in Dublin at the time of the bombings.
The commission has also been asked to determine the exact documentation relating to the investigations that is unaccounted for, the reasons why it went missing and whether it can now be located.
This is the first time a commission of investigation has been established under the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004. These commissions are designed to be a new and more cost effective means of carrying out investigations than tribunals.
The commission was established in response to the recommendations of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights in its report of March 2004.
That report followed the committee's consideration of the Barron report on the bombings by the Independent Commission of Inquiry headed by retired Supreme Court judge Henry Barron.