Mr Justice Flood is to rule today on an application from the tribunal's legal team which would give it enhanced powers of discovery to find out what bank accounts, if any, were held in the names of Mr Joseph Murphy snr or his wife, Una, in any financial institution in the State from January 1st, 1976, to date.
Mr Murphy snr's lawyers yesterday contested the application on the grounds that it was "much too wide" and not germane to the tribunal's terms of reference. They warned that a search on such a scale could do their client's reputation for credit-worthiness incalculable harm.
Mr Desmond O'Neill SC, for the tribunal, told the tribunal chairman, Mr Justice Flood, that Mr Murphy snr had given evidence in Guernsey "before you as commissioner" that he had no account with AIB or a commercial bank in Dublin. In the course of the examination he had given permission for the tribunal to see if any accounts had been held in his name. It transpired that "for a number of years in the 1980s", in the case of AIB, there was an account "involving Joseph and Una Murphy". In addition, the records showed that there were accounts held jointly by "Joseph Murphy & Another" and "Una Murphy & Another" between 1976 and 1985.
"There is a disparity between the sworn evidence of Mr Murphy snr and the findings which the tribunal is in receipt of," Mr O'Neill said.
Mr Murphy's legal advisers responded that the intended order was far too wide in its terms of reference: "The original affidavit sworn by Mr Murphy snr covered precisely this period."
The Murphy legal team objected to the breadth of the proposed order, which spanned a period of almost 24 years, Mr Michael Cush said. "It would mean investigating every financial institution in the State, including every bank account, building society, stockbroker, investment bank, insurance company, etc."
It would be invidious for any person to have to undergo such a search, he emphasised: "It cannot do his credit-worthiness any good within the financial institutions to be subjected to this."
The "true source" of the request, he argued, could be traced back to the "Conroy affidavit" - a reference to litigation between the Murphys and the former Murphy Group chief executive, the late Mr Liam Conroy.
Mr Conroy had made certain allegations in the affidavit - and the current application for the discovery order stemmed from Mr O'Neill's questioning of Mr Murphy snr in the light of that. It was a response to questions about Mr Murphy's Guernsey residence and tax status being threatened by residence in Ireland.