The High Court has adjourned for a further two weeks an application by the Mahon Tribunal to compel two journalists to reveal their sources for an article published last year about payments made to the Taoiseach.
At a brief hearing this morning, counsel for The Irish Times Editor Geraldine Kennedy and Public Affairs Correspondent Colm Keena, Eoin McGonigal SC, said they would today finalise their affidavits relating to the case.
He said the legal team representing the tribunal were seeking a two-week adjournment to give them time to study the documents.
At that point, he added the legal teams would be in a position to indicate to the court the length of time that would need to be set aside for the hearing and the substantive issues to be examined.
The President of the High Court agreed to the adjournment and said it would see what the situation was in two weeks' time.
The tribunal is seeking an order compelling the two defendants to reveal the source for an article published in the paper in September last year relating to payments made to the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, in the early 1990s.
The article was based on information contained in a confidential letter sent by the tribunal to a third party.
Last October, the two defendants refused to disclose their source before the tribunal and said the documents they had received relating to the story had been destroyed.
The tribunal then decided to refer the matter to the High Court. Ms Kennedy and Mr Keena were in court today for the hearing.
