The Chairman of the Planning Tribunal, Alan Mahon, has said that the final cost of the enquiry will be €300 million, and not the €1 billion suggested by the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell.
Mr Mahon wrote to the Clerk of the Dáil today and asked him to circulate his views to the political parties.
In his letter he says the €300m figure could be reduced if those found not to have co-operated with the enquiry had to pay their own legal bills.
Judge Mahon also insists that the tribunal should complete its remaining public hearings by early next year; he says he had advised Environment Minister Dick Roche of this timescale in a letter two weeks ago.
The letter puts the judge and the tribunal he heads dramatically in conflict with two cabinet ministers.
His account of the cost and timescale of his tribunal differs starkly from that given by Mr Roche and particularly Mr McDowell.
It has prompted the Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, to claim tonight that the Tánaiste had been exposed as willing to do anything to keep his political masters in power.
Legal teams threatening resignation: McDowell
Ciaran Cuffe of the Greens said Michael McDowell's bluff had been called and he should apologise.
For the Labour Party, Eamon Gilmore said the letter called into question the credibility of Mr McDowell and Mr Roche.
He said there was a clear obligation on both ministers to explain how they came up with a figure of €1 billion when they were estimating the cost of the tribunal.
Earlier, Mr McDowell said that some tribunals have threatened that their legal teams will resign if their fees are cut.
He said the Government decided some time ago on a new scale of fees, and there would now have to be an extraordinary reason for it not to be imposed.
The Minister said that the Government was still in discussion with the tribunals with a view to reducing the fees charged.
Mr McDowell was speaking at a news conference to publicise his party's weekend conference.
Earlier, Mr Roche, who has responsibility for the Mahon Tribunal, indicated that the issue of legal fees is the subject of correspondence between him and Justice Mahon.
His comments on RTÉ Radio's News At One came after Opposition parties strongly attacked the Government's failure to control fees at the tribunal.
No one trying to clip tribunal wings: Roche
Mr Roche said no one was trying to clip the wings of the tribunal during its inquiry into the Quarryvale lands.
He said the tribunal has to make a response to correspondence that he has issued.
He said he had made the point that he wanted the tribunal to operate as effectively, efficiently and economically as possible.
The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and Mr McDowell earlier denied that there were differences between them on the issue.
Opposition parties also complained that neither the Taoiseach nor the Tánaiste were in the Dáil today to defend their position and protested that Social Affairs Minister Séamus Brennan had been deployed to take the order of business.
Mr Kenny demanded clarity on the Government's position, claiming their absence was a contemptuous snub.
Mr Brennan said Mr McDowell had merely been drawing attention to the rising cost of the tribunal in his remarks yesterday.
But Labour leader Pat Rabbitte pointed out that it was the Tánaiste as Attorney General who had negotiated the fees system.
Earlier both the Taoiseach and Mr Roche said there was no question of winding up the tribunal.
They said talks were continuing about the level of costs with a view to curtailing the fees charged by barristers from next month onwards, as originally envisaged in proposals put forward three years ago.
Mr Roche rejected media reports that correspondence between his department and the Mahon Tribunal were fraught.
He also rejected demands that he publish correspondence between his department and the tribunal, saying that talks in relation to the future progress of the inquiry, including fee structures, must be completed before any such correspondence could be made public.
On his way into Dublin Castle this morning, the Tánaiste insisted there were no mixed messages coming from the Government on the issue.
He told reporters that he had never called for the tribunal to be closed down, but said questions remained as to how long it can go on for, and whether or not the cost involved was justifiable.
