The Special Criminal Court in Dublin ruled yesterday that contempt of court proceedings brought against the BBC and the Daily Mail by the man accused of plotting the Omagh bomb should be heard in the High Court.
Mr Justice Diarmuid O'Donovan said it would be less costly to the parties involved if the proceedings were heard in the High Court.
Colm Murphy has brought a notice for attachment, committal and sequestration against the BBC and Associated Newspapers for alleged contempt of court by the BBC's Panorama programme and a follow-up report in the Daily Mail.
Mr Murphy (48), a building contractor and publican, is charged with conspiring in Dundalk with another person not before the court to cause an explosion in the State or elsewhere between August 13th and 16th, 1998.
He is also charged with membership of an illegal organisation styling itself Oglaigh na hEireann on August 14th, 1998.
The trial is due to begin on October 9th next.