The Commercial Court will hear an application next January by members of bankrupt businessman Seán Quinn's family to cross-examine Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) special liquidator Kieran Wallace over claims they may be hiding up to €500 million in undisclosed assets from the bank.

IBRC and Mr Wallace are opposing the application.

The Quinns say those claims, made in an affidavit by Mr Wallace and based on information from unidentified informants, are “scurrilous lies”.

Despite orders obtained by IBRC from the London and US courts for disclosure of documents, nothing has been obtained to support the allegations, they also say.

Paul Gallagher SC, for IBRC and Mr Wallace, said the application is based on an affidavit from Niall McPartland, Mr Quinn’s son-in-law, who claims, among a number of matters, that the Quinn family wants to cross-examine Mr Wallace to find the purpose behind his affidavit.

They also want to know the rationale behind IBRC “informing various media outlets” last May concerning the bank’s updating the court about various matters, during which update the allegations of undisclosed assets were made, on an ex-parte basis without the Quinns being informed, Mr Gallagher said.

What was being sought was not related to any issue in the proceedings and the Quinns’ application to cross-examine was “a novel application”.