The tribunal is to adjourn public sittings next Thursday until after the local and European elections, writes Paul Cullen.
The decision will considerably delay the current hearings into the allegations of the developer Mr Tom Gilmartin, but is in line with practice during previous elections.
On those occasions, the former chairman, Mr Justice Flood, opted not to hold public sittings once election campaigns began.
A further 20 witnesses remain to be called in the current module, which began in early March. The former minister, Mr Pádraig Flynn, is likely to be the last witness and may not be called until the autumn.
In further evidence yesterday, a Dublin auctioneer, Mr Irwin Druker, denied being responsible for media leaks that revealed the involvement of his client, the British property company, Arlington Securities, in Mr Gilmartin's plans to build a shopping centre at Bachelor's Walk.
The revelation of Arlington's involvement in The Irish Times in January 1988, which Mr Gilmartin originally blamed on Mr Druker, pushed up the cost of acquiring properties on the site and was one of the reasons given by Mr Gilmartin for the project's ultimate failure.
However, Mr Gilmartin had already apologised in his evidence for making the accusation, saying it arose after Mr Druker had told him his family owned properties in the area.
Yesterday Mr Druker said it would have been difficult to keep quiet the acquisition of 70 buildings in the heart of Dublin.
A memo made by Arlington's solicitor at this time quoted Mr Druker as saying the site acquisition would cost £15 million, with £1 million of this going "down the drain" in "blackmail money".
However, Mr Druker told the tribunal it was more probable that he had referred to the "ransom money" which would have to be paid to persuade people to sell their properties.
It was not uncommon for astute property-holders to hold out for more money when large sites were being assembled, he said.
Asked why the Bachelor's Walk project failed, Mr Druker said he believed the property crash in the UK was a major factor.
Also, no grants were forthcoming from CIÉ, which had planned to build a bus station on the roof of the shopping centre.
He also believed Arlington did not have the "stomach" to proceed with the site assembly. If Mr Gilmartin had been on his own, he would have completed this task, he said.