The planning tribunal has lost a Supreme Court case it took in an attempt to stop media organisations publishing the contents of confidential tribunal documents.
The Mahon Tribunal had appealed a High Court decision not to grant an injunction preventing the Sunday Business Postand others publishing such material.
The appeal by the tribunal was dismissed by three of five Supreme Court judges.
The court held that an order banning publication would breach the right to freedom of expression and the right of a free press to communicate information without restraint, a right that is intrinsic to a free and democratic society.
The ruling stated: "The Tribunal seeks an order which will restrict freedom of expression. It claims that the press should be restrained from publishing information which it has designated as confidential. "It has not been able to identify any legal power which it possesses to designate information released by it in that way. It seeks an order in very wide terms in respect of unspecified information, which would affect the entire media."
The case arose after the paper published two articles in October 2004, headlined "Jim Kennedy's Pipe Dream" and "Fifty councillors named in new planning list", which, the tribunal claims, were based on extensive leaks of confidential tribunal documents.
The tribunal says that following the Supreme Court decision upholding a challenge by Cork property developer Owen O'Callaghan to the tribunal's failure to disclose to him all material relevant to allegations against him, it is obliged to circulate certain information to persons affected by such information. It contended that such information is confidential and cannot be disclosed prior to public hearings.
The publication of such material breached people's entitlement to fair procedures before the tribunal and their rights to privacy and protection of their good name, Paul O'Higgins SC, for the tribunal, argued.
He suggested the risk of publication could inhibit people from making statements to the tribunal, but he could not point to evidence showing any person had been so inhibited.
Meanwhile, the National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) which represents daily, Sunday and national weekly newspapers sold in Ireland, welcomed the decision as "a significant vindication of the role of the press."