Two builders who tried to conceal corrupt payments to former Fianna Fáil minister Ray Burke have been refused legal costs of €2.6 million at the Mahon Tribunal.
Tribunal Chairman Judge Alan Mahon said the non-cooperation by Tom Brennan and Joseph McGowan had been unrelenting and challenged the whole purpose of the inquiry.
Mr Brennan and his partner Mr McGowan were found to have colluded with each other and Mr Burke to give false evidence.
They had pretended that corrupt payments totalling £160,000stg paid by them to Mr Burke in the 1980s had been the result of fundraising in Britain.
Mr Burke got his house at Briargate, Swords from a company connected to Mr Brennan. This was also found to be a corrupt payment.
Tribunal counsel Des O'Neill said there had never been any explanation from the builders why these payments were made.
Counsel for the builders has already launched a High Court challenge against the right of the tribunal to refuse costs.
But Judge Mahon has said he can rule on the issue as things stand. He said the non-cooperation in this case was extensive, effectively unrelenting and affected all the tribunal's inquiries in that module.
Refusing any costs he said this level of obstruction challenged the very purpose of the tribunal, and had to be viewed with the utmost seriousness.
He also pointed out that he can require non-cooperative parties to pay some of the tribunal's legal costs. Judge Mahon said this will now be considered.
Later, a lawyer for the builders' auctioneer, John Finnegan, asked for €125,000 in costs, saying his client was found to be uncooperative because he could not keep up with the incessant demands of the inquiry.
Lawyers for PJ Mara asked for a six-figure sum, saying he was exonerated by the tribunal and was found only to have failed to reveal one offshore bank account that had nothing to do with the inquiry.
The submissions are part of a total of around €37 million that Chairman Mahon still has to consider.
