The Mahon planning tribunal was ordered by the High Court yesterday to pay the legal costs of property developer Mr Owen O'Callaghan's successful challenge to the tribunal's refusal to allow his lawyers access to various statements made by builder Mr Tom Gilmartin.
Last week, Mr Justice O'Neill disagreed with the tribunal's claim that it was entitled to withhold the documents in question on the grounds that they were received confidentially at the tribunal's private investigative stage and that disclosure might inhibit people from giving information to the tribunal.
The judge declared that the tribunal's refusal to grant Mr O'Callaghan access to the statements breached Mr O'Callaghan's constitutional right to fair procedures and unreasonably hampered his right to cross-examine Mr Gilmartin.
The tribunal has said it will appeal the High Court decision to the Supreme Court.
When the matter was returned to Mr Justice O'Neill yesterday, the judge directed the tribunal should pay Mr O'Callaghan his costs.
Mr O'Callaghan's involvement with the tribunal arose from his acquisition, through Barkhill Ltd, of an interest in the Quarryvale site in west Dublin, now the site of the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre. In 1989, Mr Gilmartin agreed to buy Mr O'Callaghan's interest in the site for £3.5 million.
Mr Justice O'Neill, in his judgment, had said that it appeared both men proceeded to develop the Quarryvale site but had parted company in 1996 with Mr Gilmartin being bought out of the project for £7.6 million.