The Mahon tribunal was established in November 1997, and the scale of fees with senior counsel being paid €2,500 a day was agreed by the government at that time.
In July 2004, the then minister for finance, Charlie McCreevy, announced plans for the introduction of a new scale of fees that would give a senior counsel about €950 a day.
In February Tánaiste Michael McDowell said the Mahon tribunal would ultimately cost the taxpayer €1 billion if it continued at its present rate on the current scale of fees.
Judge Mahon disputed the €1 billion claim and said it would cost at most €300 million. He argued that it had been prevented from finishing its work earlier by the various High Court challenges taken against it.