The engineering company at the centre of allegations in the leaked affidavit of Mr James Gogarty, a key witness in the Flood Tribunal, has claimed the disclosure was a grave injustice and must undermine the authority of the inquiry. Meanwhile, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said yesterday the Government will support Mr Justice Flood in any action he proposes to take following the leaking of details from the affidavit to the Sunday Independent.
In a statement last night Joseph Murphy Structural Engineers Ltd (JMSE) - the company for which Mr Gogarty once worked - and its subsidiary companies, as well as Mr Joseph Murphy Snr, Mr Joseph Murphy Jnr, and Mr Frank Reynolds, called for an immediate inquiry into the leak, preferably involving the Garda.
They said they "deplored" the publication of the affidavit which had been furnished to the Flood Tribunal by Mr Gogarty's legal advisers.
"The evidence contained in this affidavit should have remained confidential until it had been given to the Tribunal by Mr Gogarty in sworn and legally admissible form and where then, of course, it could be challenged by the parties affected by it", the statement added.
It was "fundamentally unfair and a grave injustice that this information is released and published in a manner which deprives the parties whose names and reputations are affected by it of an opportunity to challenge it and put the other side of the picture".
The statement added that the leaking and publication of information that should have remained confidential to the tribunal had now become commonplace.
"Apart from injustice committed to JMSE and the other named parties, this leaking and publication of confidential information must undermine the authority and purpose of the tribunal to such an extent that urgent remedial action is required", the statement added.
According to the Taoiseach, the disclosure of extracts from the affidavit was"a very serious matter".
"Clearly, confidential information which is in front of any tribunal has to be dealt with in a very sensitive manner. This particular documentation certainly has not been", Mr Ahern said.
The Taoiseach added that he had "no doubt" Mr Justice Flood would deal with the matter effectively.
Last month, Mr Justice Flood, as sole member of the tribunal, said he was satisfied that no documentation or information furnished in confidence had been disclosed to any third party by the tribunal.
He was aware that "certain parties" who had provided information to the inquiry or who might be under investigation by it had made direct disclosures to the media.
The tribunal did not welcome disclosures, which did not assist its work and which were not in the public interest, he added.