AT the end of yesterday's Hanafin petition judgments, which took two hours to read, the Attorney General asked for the costs of the action.
He said the taxpayer should not pay costs. Mr James O'Reilly SC, for the Referendum Returning Officer, made a similar application.
Mr Garrett Cooney SC, for Mr Hanafin, said there were many serious matters in the judgments and he asked the court for a 24 hour adjournment so that his client could consider his position.
If the court felt it could not grant an adjournment, he would ask for a stay on the court's order that the Referendum Returning Officer be present in court today on the grounds that the petitioner may wish to bring the matter to the Supreme Court which he was entitled to do under the Constitution.
Mr Justice Murphy said he would not implement the order at the end of his judgment that the Referendum Returning Officer should attend the court at 10.30 a.m. to receive from the Court Registrar the Provisional Referendum Certificate containing the endorsement that it was confirmed without alteration by the High Court.
Instead, he would adjourn it for 24 hours until 2 p.m. today. The certificate would not be endorsed in the meantime. The Referendum Returning Officer should attend then.
The Attorney General said the court was not obliged to postpone the finding. Mr Cooney had asked for a stay and this should be refused as there was no jurisdiction. They should tread carefully here.
Mr Justice Murphy said he recognised it was an important matter.
The three judges of the divisional court of the High Court were the President of the divisional court, Mr Justice Murphy, Mr Justice Lynch and Mr Justice Barr.