Updated at 6.34pm

THE COMMISSION OF Investigation into the GardaGate taping revelations will cost at least €2 million, the Government has confirmed.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny confirmed to the Dáil this evening that “a cost of €2m is deemed a reasonable estimate for 2014 and it is proposed to provide for this from [...] the Department of the Taoiseach”.

The final report of the Commission, headed up by Justice Nial Fennelly, is due by the end of December this year.

The main issues to be examined are:

• The operation of telephone recording systems to record calls other than 999 calls to the emergency call answering service, at a large number of garda stations over many years
• The specific implications of the taping related to the Garda investigation into the death of Sophie Toscan Du Plantier in County Cork in December 1996, and related matters
• How these matters were dealt with by the responsible authorities
• The sequence of events leading up to the retirement of the former Garda Commissioner, Martin Callinan in March 2014.

Beginning a Dáil debate on the terms of reference this evening, Kenny told TDs he was aware of calls for earlier reports on some elements of the investigation, particularly the timeline leading up to the former Commissioner’s resignation. But, he said:

It’s important to recognise the independence of the Judge and therefore the Government believes it is more appropriate to the give the Commission full flexibility on the nature, timing or sequencing of any part of the investigation.

Kenny said the staffing requirements of the Commission would become clearer once it had been established and begun scoping out its work in more detail.

The Taoiseach will sign off on all appointments, with the consent of Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin.

Modular reports

Fianna Fáil Justice Spokesperson Niall Collins suggested the Commission should report on a modular basis, rather than handing in its full review at the end of the year.

He said it wasn’t credible that it should take the rest of the year for the Commission to establish the sequence of events surrounding Callinan’s stepping down.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin’s Padraig MacLochlainn said Justice Minister Alan Shatter still had serious questions to answer regarding how the Government learned of the garda station taping revelations.

He said the political issues to be probed by the Commission should have been “frontloaded” and examined within an initial eight-week period.

MacLochlainn said he was concerned the full report would take far longer than the term set-out by the Government, and that “it could take two years” before the full picture emerges.

Other reports

Separately, a government spokesperson said today it is still expected the reports of the Cook and Guerin probes to be handed in before the end of the month.

Retired judge John Cooke has been examining allegations that the offices of the Garda Ombudsman were bugged. Barrister Séan Guerin is examining claims that gardaí mishandled several serious cases.

First posted at 6pm

Read: GardaGate inquiry will look at Du Plantier case and Callinan’s ‘retirement’

Read: Civil Liberties group writes to Taoiseach, wants GardaGate inquiry expanded to protect human rights