Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who is challenging the Mahon tribunal's right to question him about remarks he made in the Dáil about his financial affairs, will today appear before the tribunal in Dublin Castle.
Mr Ahern is scheduled to spend the next two days giving evidence about his finances; the sources of funds donated to him; and face more questions about currency transactions into and out of his accounts.
So far, there is no indication as to whether Mr Ahern's decision to go to the High Court will have any impact on his appearance this week, or whether the tribunal will seek an adjournment.
The tribunal may take the opportunity today of putting on record all correspondence between Mr Ahern's legal team and the tribunal on his objections to their attempts to question him about Dáil speeches.
However, that was thought unlikely last night since the tribunal should have enough issues to deal with that do not involve any remarks made by Mr Ahern at any point in the Dáil.
The High Court case will be dealt with by three judges on April 1st, and a challenge to the Supreme Court is thought to be certain regardless of the High Court's judgment, which is not expected for some weeks after the hearing.
However, it is also possible that today's hearing may be punctuated by interventions from Mr Ahern's barrister, Conor Maguire, to protest at any effort by the tribunal to raise issues that may involve past Dáil speeches.
Regardless of this week's appearance and the High Court case, Mr Ahern must return to Dublin Castle sometime after March 10th for further questions.
Meanwhile, 85 per cent of Fianna Fáil backbenchers who responded to a poll in recent days by Newstalk radio believed Mr Ahern was right to take the tribunal to the High Court.
The station contacted all 45 Fianna Fáil backbenchers this week, out of which 37 responded to the survey confidentially.