Judge considers plea for costs from wife of George Redmond

Representatives for Maureen Redmond, wife of former Dublin assistant city and county manager George Redmond, applied for her costs at the Mahon tribunal yesterday.

Ms Redmond's application was one of 10 being considered by chairman, Judge Alan Mahon. He said he would rule on the applications by the end of the month.

Three of the applicants, Gerard Brady, Gerard Downes and Gabriel Grehan had been granted limited representation previously at the tribunal. Other applicants included Ireland on Sunday newspaper, AIB plc, EBS and Norwich Union.

The tribunal will hear further applications on Thursday from individuals and companies who co-operated with its investigations into former minister Ray Burke and George Redmond.

The Minister for Finance had contested that the tribunal should not direct the cost of applications be paid by the State, arguing that they would be a significant burden on the public purse.

Fergus Dunleavy, solicitor for Maureen Redmond, said that the wording of the tribunal's request to his client was precise and required consideration other than in the strict civil sense. "Not only did we have to address our client's own affairs, which were the normal everyday accounts of any housewife in the land, but our client was also charged into having to address various dealings of related parties about which she knew nothing or had absolutely no control," he said.

"Our client had no option but to employ the services of a solicitor," he added.

Representative for the EBS Paul Gardner SC, whose client supplied information on foot of four orders of discovery from the tribunal, said that a whole raft of things had to be considered by the EBS before making discovery,including privacy rights.

Discovery "imposed a cost on its members, which is a cost that in the public interests should be spread among the public".

Richard Nesbitt SC, representing AIB plc, said 110 requests for discovery were made to his client and "substantial monies" were spent in compliance.

He argued that if the bank was required to pay its costs instead of the people of Ireland sharing in the cost of having a tribunal of inquiry, individuals have been picked out inequitably to share the cost of working with the tribunal. He said this would not be an appropriate interpretation of tribunal legislation.