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Businessman Denis O Brien leaves the Moriarty Tribunal in Dublin Castle in June 2007 Albert Gonzalez/Rollingnews.ie

The Moriarty Tribunal is finally set to wind up early next year with a final cost of over €65 million

The Tribunal published its final report in 2011, but still has not wound down.

THE MORIARTY TRIBUNAL is set to finally conclude early next year after costing the taxpayer at least €65.5 million.

The tribunal which looked into the financial affairs of, among others, Charles Haughey and Michael Lowry, has continued to cost the State money, even after the publication of the final report in 2011. 

Since 2017, it has cost an additional €10 million through various legal fees. 

Officially called the Tribunal of Inquiry into certain Payments to Politicians and Related Matters, it took 14 years to find that former Fine Gael minister Michael Lowry had an “insidious and pervasive” influence over the awarding of Ireland’s second mobile phone licence in the 1990s to Denis O’Brien’s Esat Digifone company.

Lowry is currently still a sitting TD for Tipperary. He rejects the findings of the Tribunal, as does O’Brien.

Speaking to the Oireachtas Finance Committee in February 2017, then-Taoiseach Enda Kenny provided a brekadown of the €54 million that had been spent to date. 

He said that €35.58 million had been spent on legal fees; €9.764 million had been spent on administration; €6.84 million was spent on third party costs; and €2.55 million was spent on other payments.

In response to a parliamentary question late this year, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the Tribunal’s work was nearly finished.

He said: “Following publication of that Report, the Tribunal’s team was substantially reduced and a small legal and administrative staff remains in place.

The determination by the Court of Appeal in relation to one of the last remaining sets of legal proceedings taken against the Tribunal took place in 2018. Following the judgement in those proceedings it has been necessary for the Tribunal to give further consideration to certain aspects of the very few remaining applications for costs which the Sole Member is undertaking at present.
The Tribunal continues with wind down and deconstruction, arrangements have been made for proper storage and archiving of files. This process is ongoing at present and a significant portion of this aspect has been concluded in recent months. It is expected that all matters concerning those remaining costs applications will be concluded by early next year.

The final bill for the Moriarty Tribunal is among the highest spent on such an inquiry in the history of the State, but is far less than the €136 million that the Mahon Tribunal has cost to date. The final bill for the Mahon Tribunal is expected to reach €140 million.

The Disclosures Tribunal, which looked into protected disclosures made by Garda Sergeant Maurice McCabe, has cost the State €8.2 million to date.

That Tribunal will continue its work into the new year as it continues to look into the final term of reference – protected disclosures by gardaí prior to February 2016 alleging wrongdoing within An Garda Síochána where the garda was subsequently targeted or discredited with the knowledge of senior members of the gardaí. 

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    Mute Mattress Dick
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    Aug 4th 2020, 1:05 PM

    I’ve a 1970s bottle of power’s topped up with cidona

    284
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    Mute William O'Rourke
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    Aug 4th 2020, 7:29 PM

    @Mattress Dick: is there any house in Ireland with teenagers that doesn’t have that ! No rarity value Mattress Dick

    14
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    Mute Pat Kelly
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    Aug 4th 2020, 1:07 PM

    Iv a bottle of that McGregor muck.. so called proper 12… lucky if it’s worth €12

    180
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    Mute Kenneth Hayden
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    Aug 4th 2020, 1:08 PM

    @Pat Kelly:
    How much will you give me to take it off your hands.

    116
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    Mute Dermot McL
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    Aug 4th 2020, 2:30 PM

    @Pat Kelly: I hear it packs a punch.

    40
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    Mute Andrew English
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    Aug 4th 2020, 3:30 PM

    @Pat Kelly: would you drink Bushmills? Same product if so.

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    Mute Kevin O' Brien
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    Aug 4th 2020, 5:02 PM

    @Andrew English: it absolutely is not.

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    Mute Michael Carr
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    Aug 4th 2020, 5:51 PM

    @Kevin O’ Brien: absolutely is.

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    Mute james mccarthy
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    Aug 4th 2020, 1:13 PM

    How come @irishwhiskeyauctions don’t get any coverage ? They regularly sell bottles for more then that on a monthly basis

    68
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    Mute Dave Barrett
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    Aug 4th 2020, 1:40 PM

    I used top up my dads powers bottle with water when I was young. He used to mark the bottle.
    Jameson! Now that’s a nice whisky.

    39
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    Mute Joe Toner
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    Aug 4th 2020, 1:11 PM

    €12000…. and it probably tastes like hamsters pIss!!

    66
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    Mute Garreth mc mahon
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    Aug 4th 2020, 1:59 PM

    @Joe Toner: not gonna ask how you know

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    Mute Mick Scanlan
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    Aug 4th 2020, 2:06 PM

    @Joe Toner: hamsters piss worth a go ?

    38
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    Mute Premier Fitters
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    Aug 4th 2020, 1:55 PM

    But whiskey does not age in a glass bottle. It’s aged in casks! So your buying an overpriced probably 10 to 13 year old whiskey in essence. Maybe enjoy your €12k purchase and refill with TK red lemonade lol

    31
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    Mute Martin
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    Aug 4th 2020, 1:59 PM

    @Premier Fitters: 16 years aged if you read it

    46
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    Mute Premier Fitters
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    Aug 4th 2020, 2:00 PM

    @Martin: opps lol

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    Mute Craic_a_tower
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    Aug 4th 2020, 4:56 PM

    @Premier Fitters: yes but you can’t get the taste of this whiskey from that time anywhere else as it hasn’t been made for so long

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    Mute Peter Cavey
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    Aug 4th 2020, 1:32 PM

    I might be shopping here in future. Cheaper than a supermarket by far!
    https://www.whisky-online.com/auctions/auction/view/0320/126172

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    Mute Bunny Johnson
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    Aug 4th 2020, 1:38 PM

    @Peter Cavey: Do you know how Auctions work? Commission/Delivery /Vat on delivery and commission etc.

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    Mute Peter Cavey
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    Aug 4th 2020, 4:06 PM

    @Bunny Johnson: thanks for the very passive aggressive response. It’s appreciated.

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    Mute Glenn Halpin
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    Aug 5th 2020, 7:48 AM

    @Peter Cavey: when hiding behind an alias the anonymity must be soothingly enjoyable for these trolls. Perhaps in some way makes the tears less salty in the attic of mom and dads house.

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    Mute thesaltyurchin
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    Aug 4th 2020, 4:44 PM

    Where did our home grown booze industries go?.. oh right Diageo bought them and closed them down.

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    Mute Michael McCambridge
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    Aug 4th 2020, 5:39 PM

    @thesaltyurchin: Wrong. We lost our export market for booze when we left the commonwealth. Access to the British Empire’s market disappeared .
    Scottish whisky filled the gap. Irish Whiskey distillers lost out.

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    Mute thesaltyurchin
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    Aug 4th 2020, 8:40 PM

    @Michael McCambridge: … and then Diageo bought all the distilleries and breweries.

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    Mute Glenn Halpin
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    Aug 5th 2020, 7:51 AM

    @Michael McCambridge: a whole lot more complicated than that… Involving world war, prohibition, technological developments etc.

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    Mute classic
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    Aug 4th 2020, 6:01 PM

    Jameson is the best

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    Mute Ewan O'Doherty
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    Aug 4th 2020, 4:29 PM

    If I win the Lotto in the meantime I’ll consider bidding

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