The former Anglo Irish Bank wants members of Seán Quinn’s family to tell the bank where the money is coming from before it agrees to release thousands of euro to pay lawyers abroad.
The Quinns have been directed to produce certain documents to the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation as part of an order made by the Commercial Court at the end of July.
Their accounts and assets have been frozen and they have applied for €40,000 to be paid out to them to pay lawyers in Cyprus to release documents.
They have also said there may be a problem with getting documents released from their former solicitors in Ireland.
However, lawyers for IBRC told the High Court this afternoon that the bank wanted the Quinns to identify the assets from which it was proposed the money would be released.
Senior Counsel Brian Murray said the bank wanted to be satisfied the assets were not those over which the bank had a charge.
He said the location and destination of very large sums of money - totalling €32 million - was still unknown.
Lawyers for the receiver appointed to the assets of the Quinn children and their partners said they were growing increasingly concerned about the production of documents to the receiver.
The court was told the receiver's concern had been heightened by the fact that they had been told that on 28 July, three days after an order was made by the Commercial Court to disclose documents, memory sticks containing certain documents had been stolen from members of the Quinn family.
The receiver wants an order directing disclosure of the documents as ordered, as well as details of the theft and an outline of the documents contained on the memory sticks.
Three members of the extended Quinn family were in court today: Seán Quinn's youngest daughter, Brenda; Ciara Quinn's husband, Niall McPartland; and Aoife Quinn's husband, Stephen Kelly.
They all represented themselves, after the High Court granted an application allowing their lawyers to stop representing them.
The Quinns said in a statement on Friday that they had to instruct their legal team to withdraw from representing them due to the financial position they had been placed in by the former Anglo Irish Bank.
Niall McPartland told the court the family had been put in a very difficult situation regarding their finances.
He said they had been ordered to make disclosures but the bank was raising issues about how they intended to pay.
He said if they got a bit more time, they might be able to make alternative arrangements that would satisfy the bank and the court about how they intended to pay.
He said they had all individually submitted sworn documents outlining their means and wanted to comply with their obligations.
Stephen Kelly said the memory sticks had been stolen when his car had been broken into and there was a full garda report on the matter. He said some items had been recovered and some had not.
Mr Justice Peter Charleton said the case being taken by the family against IBRC, in which they allege €2.3 billion in loans were given to them for the unlawful purpose of propping up Anglo's share price, would be difficult to fight without legal advice.
Brenda Quinn said they did not know what they were going to do yet and asked for some weeks to consider their position. However, she said the family was determined to proceed with the action.
In relation to the case being taken by the bank against the Quinns, in which the IBRC alleges there was a conspiracy to put assets beyond its reach, the judge said the job of the courts system was to uncover the truth and the longer cases were delayed the more chance of injustice.
He said in the event of anyone being tempted to destroy documents or send them to the bottom of the sea, where they might be discovered in a lobster pot, they should be aware that would be contempt of court.
However, he said he would adjourn the matters relating to documents until 24 September.
He warned the Quinns that very definite proposals would have to be put in place at that stage.
