Mr Justice Flood will provide a written ruling today on a submission from Mr Ray Burke's legal team that the tribunal was using unfair procedures against the former Fianna Fail minister.
Mr Aidan Walsh SC, for Mr Burke, said yesterday the Flood tribunal should not publicly hear any evidence on the financial affairs of Mr Burke given that he had co-operated fully and had already provided so much information.
It was unfair of the tribunal to trawl through more than 20 years of Mr Burke's financial affairs without first producing any allegations. "The cart is being put before the horse," he said.
Mr Walsh said the tribunal team should provide a broad outline of the allegations and then call the evidence so that Mr Burke's team could deal with it.
Mr Burke's legal team also argued that the tribunal should not be looking at his financial affairs in isolation, but at the manner in which other political donations were made. There was one law for Mr Burke, and one law for everyone else, he said.
While Mr Burke was being as co-operative as possible, it was impossible to account for some minor payments going back 20 years.
He also contended that Mr Burke's dealings with the Revenue Commissioners were private and outside the remit of the tribunal.
Mr Patrick Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, described Mr Walsh's submission as "astonishing" and said it was a "fundamental misunderstanding" of the nature of a public inquiry.
He agreed that Mr Burke's financial affairs were private but said they could not be ignored if they were relevant to the tribunal's investigations.
"If the tribunal were to do this, then it would be criticised, and rightly, by the Oireachtas and public in general for not doing its job," Mr Hanratty said.
It was the job of the tribunal to investigate allegations that Mr Burke had received payments from people who might have stood to benefit from decisions he made as a minister, he said.
According to Mr Hanratty, only one matter regarding the Revenue Commissioners was being heard in public, and that was because explanations had not been forthcoming when the issue was heard in private.
He said it would be "inappropriate and even improper" for the tribunal to make allegations against Mr Burke.
Mr Justice Flood said he needed time to examine the validity of Mr Walsh's submission.
"If the matter is challenged on the basis of fair procedure, then it should be investigated and a decision made as to whether or not procedure is fair," he said.
"I want to check that I'm acting in a fair and proper manner, having been challenged by Mr Walsh, as he is legitimately entitled to challenge," he said.
