Fianna Fáil has been paid almost a half a million euro to cover the party’s legal costs arising from its involvement with the Moriarty tribunal.
Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show €495,127 was paid to Frank Ward Co, solicitors for Fianna Fáil, on December 24th last relating to the party’s legal costs arising from the tribunal.
The tribunal, which was set up to inquire into payments to the late taoiseach Charles Haughey and to former Fine Gael minister Michael Lowry, published two reports, one in 2006 and a second, two-volume report in 2011.
In the first report the tribunal found Mr Haughey had taken payments of €11.56 million between 1979 and 1996 and had granted favours in return.
‘Inappropriate and imprudent’
It was also critical of Bertie Ahern, who was taoiseach at the time the first report was published, for the “inappropriate and imprudent” practice in his position as a Fianna Fáil TD in the 1980s of pre-signing of cheques from the party leader’s allowance account for the then taoiseach, Mr Haughey.
Fianna Fáil previously received €480,000 to cover legal costs arising from the Mahon tribunal despite 21 of its members being criticised in the final report of the planning tribunal. Some of the party’s representatives received their individual legal costs separately.
Other third-party legal fees relating to the Moriarty tribunal, details of which were released to The Irish Times, included €3,750 paid to the legal team of Tommy Cullen, a former chairman of Wicklow County Council, and €907.50 to cover solicitor Gerald Kean’s legal costs.
The expenditure by the Department of the Taoiseach in relation to the Moriarty tribunal from June to December 2012 also includes a combined €232,000 in legal costs which the Government spent defending cases brought by businessmen Dermot Desmond and Denis O’Brien.
High Court actions
Part of the costs – totalling €63,000 – relate to unsuccessful High Court actions brought by Mr Desmond and Mr O’Brien that sought to prevent barrister Michael McDowell from continuing to examine a key witness at the Moriarty tribunal.
The court refused to grant leave to the businessmen for judicial review proceedings challenging Mr McDowell’s engagement.
A further payment of €168,930 is understood to relate to a further case brought by Mr Desmond aimed at setting aside High Court and Supreme Court decisions in 2003 and 2004 when the courts rejected complaints made by him about certain conduct of the Moriarty tribunal.
The action was halted by High Court judge Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne in February last year.
Accumulated costs arising from the Moriarty tribunal have reached about €35 million to date.
However, it is estimated that third-party costs will result in a final cost of at least €100 million with the combined legal costs of Mr O’Brien and Mr Lowry anticipated to reach somewhere in the region of €25 million.