Fitzwilton has lost a High Court application for access to documents from the Mahon tribunal relating to the tribunal's decision to hold public hearings into a £30,000 (€38,000) donation by Fitzwilton to former minister Ray Burke for Fianna Fáil funds.
The tribunal has been inquiring into the Fitzwilton payment since 1998 but the discovery application arose from its decision last year to proceed into a public hearing into the payment.
The company had told the court that, before the 1989 general election, Fianna Fáil had officially solicited a political contribution of £30,000 from Fitzwilton which the company agreed to make via Mr Burke.
The court was told Mr Burke handed over only £10,000 of the contribution to Fianna Fáil and that Fitzwilton did not learn until 1998 that Mr Burke had retained £20,000.
Fitzwilton had sought disclosure of all documents prepared by and considered by the tribunal between December 3rd, 2004 and May 1st, 2005 before it decided that it should proceed with a public hearing of the Fitzwilton module.
Ms Justice Mary Laffoy yesterday ruled that discovery of the documents relating to the tribunal's decision to proceed to a public hearing was not necessary to fairly dispose of the issues.