Fianna Fail has been trying to persuade the Moriarty tribunal to give it a further hearing to press its case on the issue of the party's level of co-operation with it. Lawyers for the party have asked the tribunal legal team to meet with them and the person or people at party headquarters who handled the request from the tribunal for documentation on contributions made to the party, to give their account of what happened.
It is believed they want to stress there was no intentional withholding of information or documentation and by hearing directly from those involved any misunderstandings could be cleared up. In relation to the "abstract" or "second list" of 19 donors mentioned at the tribunal, Fianna Fail sources have been adamant its importance has been exaggerated by tribunal sources. The list involved receipts sent to Mr Haughey's office at his request. Party sources say only about eight of the 19 donors were recorded as "anonymous" on Mr Haughey's instructions. The party is anxious this be put in its "proper context" to the tribunal.
At a tribunal sitting at the end of last month, counsel for the tribunal, Mr John Coughlan SC, said it would have to inquire as to whether Fianna Fail's failure to provide all the documention required was inadvertent.
"The failure to get all the records, that is all records other than the cash receipts book, may have been through inadvertence, but that is a matter to be inquired into," said Mr Coughlan who had documented all of the correspondence between the tribunal and Fianna Fail. He said he was not concluding there was any deliberate withholding of information from the tribunal, but the facts needed to be established and it would be for Mr Justice Flood, the sole chairman, to arrive at a conclusion he considered appropriate in accordance with the tribunal's terms of reference.