The Donegal nightclub owner whose complaints of Garda harassment led to the setting up of the Morris tribunal has written to the Minister for Justice asking him to reconsider his decision not to guarantee the family's legal fees for representation before the public inquiry.
Mr Frank McBrearty wrote to the Minister asking him to award his family their costs, pointing out that his wife, Ms Rosalind McBrearty, had collapsed from stress at the tribunal earlier this week.
Ms McBrearty was kept overnight in hospital. Doctors have advised her against attending the tribunal because of the stress.
In his letter to the Minister, Mr McBrearty said a "special case" should be made for paying his family lawyers on an interim basis.
"To do so will be understood by the people of Ireland as a gesture of sensitivity and understanding of my family's particular situation before the tribunal," Mr McBrearty wrote, "without in any way compromising the State."
The McBrearty family withdrew their legal team from the tribunal earlier this year, but several members of the family have attended the hearings for the past two weeks.
Both Mr McBrearty and his son, Frank McBrearty jnr, have questioned witnesses on their own behalf at the tribunal.