The Mahon tribunal has lost a High Court bid to prevent the Sunday Business Postpublishing documents that the tribunal had directed should remain confidential until disclosed at public hearings.
The tribunal applied to the High Court last December, arguing that the newspaper should not have published evidence due before the tribunal the previous October and should not be allowed publish reports based on any other tribunal documentation in its possession.
During the last hearing in March of this year, Mr Justice Peter Kelly noted a Supreme Court decision in favour of property developer Owen O'Callaghan's challenge to procedures adopted by the tribunal.
The ruling led to the release of statements relating to Mr O'Callaghan by another witness Tom Gilmartin.
Mr Justice Kelly today found that imposing the restraining order would be a disproportionate response for dealing what he regarded as the tribunal's reasonable concerns, such as protecting a witness's confidence or preventing the release of information that may be damaging to someone's reputation.
He said the tribunal would need to establish a more precise method of keeping information of a particularly sensitive nature confidential rather than attempting to restrain publication of all information due before it.