The State is to make a "very substantial" interim payment within a week to Frank McBrearty snr, his wife and their company, the High Court heard yesterday.
Mr Justice Paul Gilligan directed that the payment, believed to be a seven figure sum, should be made within seven days.
The sum is being paid in advance of the hearing of the action for damages by the couple and their company over their treatment by gardaí during the Garda investigation into the death of cattle dealer Richie Barron in Co Donegal 11 years ago.
The interim payment reflects an acceptance by the State of the findings to date of the Morris tribunal relating to the McBreartys.
The action by Frank McBrearty snr and his wife Rosalind and their firm, Frank McBrearty and Co Ltd, is against the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána and the State in relation to their treatment following the death of Mr Barron in Raphoe in 1996.
The case had been fixed for hearing at a special sitting of the High Court in Castlebar, Co Mayo, on October 2nd.
However, Mr Justice Paul Gilligan yesterday agreed to adjourn that part of the claim relating to the couple. He directed that the claim relating to the company will proceed on October 2nd in Castlebar as an assessment of damages only in relation to financial losses incurred by the company as a result of the actions of the defendants in relation to which liability has been admitted.
The judge described the interim payment being offered by the defendants for the hardship the McBreartys had suffered as being very substantial and directed that it be made in the next seven days.
He ruled that other claims being brought against the defendants, including for aggravated and exemplary damages and liability for the legal costs the McBreartys had amassed over the last number of years, would be reviewed, but not heard at the hearings in Castlebar.
The judge said he was conscious that the module currently being heard by the Morris tribunal, which concerns allegations of harassment by certain members of the Garda in Co Donegal, deals with some issues that are part of the plaintiff's High Court proceedings. While that module was nearly complete, it was not known when it would conclude.
Yesterday, Paul Burns SC for the defendants said his side were happy to make the interim payment and to proceed to Castlebar for an assessment of losses of the company. Because the other proceedings could end up being a lengthy rehearing of the Morris tribunal, the defendants were seeking the court to adjourn all other matters, he said.
Counsel said that the defendants had not accepted liability in relation to the quantity of the McBreartys legal costs and it was hoped those costs could be worked out by engaging with an independent party.
Counsel also said that his clients would not deny any findings of fact that have been made, or are to be made, by the Morris tribunal.
Opposing the application for an adjournment Martin Giblin SC said that his clients had been waiting for years for this case to get up and running. His clients' debts were double the amount being offered as an interim payment. There was also no agreement in relation to his clients' legal costs, which were estimated to be between €1.3 million and €1.4 million.
His clients, for health reasons, wanted to complete the legal proceedings because they "needed closure".
Mr McBrearty snr was arrested in December 1996 by officers investigating the death of Raphoe cattle dealer Richie Barron.