The chairman of the tribunal, Mr Justice Flood, yesterday rejected an appeal by an architect, Mr Ambrose Kelly, to be given an extended period of time to comply with an order of discovery for documents relating to the Quarryvale development.
Counsel for Mr Kelly, Mr Martin Hayden, said his client needed 16 weeks to collate all the records and documentation being sought. Mr Kelly had to go through the documentation himself to ensure he would be capable of giving a comprehensive statement to the tribunal. However, "he obviously has a business to keep on the road as well."
Mr Hayden said that Mr Kelly hoped to confine the trawl through records to weekends to enable him to continue his practice during the week. But counsel for the tribunal, Mr Des O'Neill, said it would seriously impede the work of the tribunal if this party was allowed a period of four months to provide documentation.
Mr O'Neill said the tribunal believed there could only be a limited amount of documentation which must have been collated by Mr Kelly "and this should be readily available".
Mr Hayden rejected this claim, saying a vast amount of documentation had to be collated. Among the documents sought under the discovery order, sent to Mr Kelly on April 28th, were all invoices regarding the Neilstown/Quarryvale development, time sheets and work records relating to the project, records of payments from a number of building companies and the developer Mr Owen O'Callaghan, records relating to disbursement of such payments, and records of minutes of meetings with employees of local authorities and An Bord Pleanala.
Mr Hayden said: "It is not a case of everything being at the one spot and available just at the drop of a hat. With the best will in the world and without any intention to delay this tribunal, it is going to take a substantial amount of time."
But Mr Justice Flood said that there would be no delay of 16 weeks - "That is definite". He said it would appear on Mr Kelly's own calculations that if he applied himself he could complete the task in around a month, two weekends multiplied by 16.
He said the lawyers should establish which documents should have priority under the order, and he would make a definitive ruling on the matter next Tuesday.
