Judgment has been reserved in contempt of court proceedings being taken against three newspapers over their reporting of the trial of those charged in connection with the death of Brian Murphy during a violent incident outside Club Anabel in Dublin.
Judge Michael White said after hearing submissions from counsel for the Irish Examiner, the Star on Sunday and the UCD College Tribune that he would give his ruling on May 10th.
Mr Brendan Grehan SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, told Judge White that the DPP was not proceeding with two further cases against the Evening Herald and the Irish Independent.
Mr Eoin McCullough SC appeared for the Irish Examiner and the Star on Sunday. He told the judge that in the case of the Irish Examiner his client apologised for the publication of material which was heard in the absence of the jury during the trial. He said this was a "highly regrettable error" and that there had been no intention to interfere with the trial process.
He said the article was written by a freelance reporter who had experience in court reporting but had not carried out her normal practice of differentiating in her notes between what was said during the trial and what was heard in the absence of the jury.
Mr McCullough said on behalf of the Star on Sunday that an article which referred to the fact that two of the accused were on legal aid was about the issue of the allocation of State resources.
He said this was an issue that the newspaper often made comment on and there was no intention on his client's part of compromising or interfering with the trial.
Barrister Mr Jonathan Kilfeather said on behalf of his client, the UCD College Tribune, that the editor of the newspaper, Mr Daniel McDonnell, realised the seriousness of what occurred and he said the publication of material heard in the absence of the jury was both unintentional and inadvertent.
Mr Luan Ó Braonain, for Mr Desmond Ryan, who was convicted of violent disorder in relation to the death of Brian Murphy outside Club Anabel on August 31st, 2000, said his client had privately retained the services of his solicitors and counsel.
He said that if the court reached a verdict of contempt in the case he intended to make an application for costs for the one or two days of court proceedings which had been lost when the trial was halted to discuss the contempt of court issue.