Fitzwilton Ltd has applied to the High Court for access to documents from the Mahon tribunal. These relate to the tribunal's decision to hold public hearings into a £30,000 donation to former minister Ray Burke for Fianna Fáil funds.
The company is seeking to quash the tribunal's decision to refuse access to particular documents. It wants disclosure of all those prepared and considered by the tribunal between December 3rd, 2004, and May 1st, 2005, before it decided to proceed with a public hearing of the Fitzwilton module.
The High Court was told last September 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. Mr Burke had handed only £10,000 over to the party and the company did not become aware until 1998 that Mr Burke had kept £20,000.
John Gordon SC, for Fitzwilton, said a letter written by the tribunal on October 7th had declined voluntary discovery of documents. Fitzwilton was told that the tribunal had considered 47 matters before deciding on a public hearing of the module and it now sought access to those documents.