2 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will outline (1) the amount which his Department have paid to date in legal fees to counsel representing the State at the beef tribunal.

62 Mr. V. Brady asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will outline the total cost to date to the Exchequer of the Tribunal of Inquiry into the Beef Industry; if he will outline separately the payments being made by the Exchequer to the chairman and other legal personnel involved in the inquiry; and if he will give details of the total staff numbers involved and the total cost of such staff to date.

142 Mr. Cullimore asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will give details of the up-to-date cost of the beef tribunal.

143 Mrs. T. Ahearn asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will outline (1) the salary of the chairman of the beef tribunal, (2) the cost of back-up staff on a daily basis and (3) the number of legal personnel involved in the tribunal, if he will give details of fees being paid.

144 Mrs. T. Ahearn asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will outline the cost to date of the beef tribunal.

151 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will outline all the personnel involved in the beef tribunal broken down into departmental staff, legal, clerical and support services; and if he will further outline (1) their grade and status, (2) their expenses or agreed fees, (3) the basis for such agreement and (4) the days and dates that expenses or fees have been claimed to date by such personnel.

152 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will give details of (1) the moneys which have been paid to date to discharge the costs and expenses of the beef tribunal (2) the basis on which such costs and expenses are paid.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 2, 62, 142, 143, 144, 151 and 152 together.

The total expenditure to date on the beef tribunal is £2.6 million. It is not possible at this stage to estimate what the final costs will be.

Legal Expenses

Total expenditure to date on Legal Fees covering the period 17 June 1991-14 April 1992 is £1.6 million. This can be broken down as follows:

Counsel for State £900,000

Counsel for Tribunal £700,000.

The fees payable to the legal personnel have been fixed by the Attorney General's Office as follows:

Senior Counsel £8,400 for preparatory brief plus £1,890per diem.

Junior Counsel £5,600 for preparatory brief plus £1,260per diem.

The Legal Personnel engaged for the State and the Tribunal are as follows: