The secretary general of the Department of Finance, David Doyle, has said he is not aware that tribunals have any system for tracking costs being expended by third parties.
He also said he was not aware that Government departments with responsibility for funding particular tribunals had details of the contingent liabilities of third- party costs.
Mr Doyle said the tribunals knew the number of incidences in which official representation had been granted but he was not aware there were records being submitted on how senior counsel, junior counsel, solicitors and others engaged by third parties were being deployed both in Dublin Castle and in the background.
Mr Doyle told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee yesterday that suggestions that tribunals be asked to prepare such estimates had been pursued with the Attorney General.
However, he said there was a view that "this could be interpreted as an unwarranted interference with their independence". Mr Doyle said the traditional approach was that third parties submitted their bills only when all procedures had been wrapped up.
He said there was legislation before the House which would involve tribunals and new modules of existing tribunals having to specify cost estimates as part of their terms of reference.
He said under these provisions tribunals would have to report back to the Oireachtas if these estimates were exceeded.
The Department of Justice said that under the Tribunals of Inquiry Evidence Bill, tribunals, within three months of their establishment, would be obliged to provide statements of their estimated costs and durations.
This Bill was first proposed in 2005 and sources said last night that it was unlikely to be enacted before the end of the current Dáil.
Mr Doyle said that the trend in past tribunals was that third-party costs accounted for about 66 per cent of the total bill.
He said the bill to date for all tribunals currently sitting was about €180 million.
This included €70 million in administration costs, €96 million in legal fees run up by the tribunals themselves and €16 million in third party costs.
He said this would suggest that a minimum of €340 million in other third-party costs was still outstanding.
However, Mr Doyle said he believed this to be "a significant understatement".
He said that up to the end of last year the Moriarty tribunal had cost €26 million but that "not a single penny had been paid in third-party costs".
Mr Doyle forecast that the bill for third-party costs arising, in particular, from the Moriarty tribunal's investigation into the awarding of the second mobile phone licence, would be "substantial".
He said that the bills from the Barr tribunal into the shooting of John Carthy in Abbeylara could reach €20 million.
