Three days gone, not a scrap of real evidence given and the Flood Tribunal's excursion to the Channel Islands is steadily descending into farce. The costs of this extraordinary session are soaring, and still there is no certainty that Mr Joseph Murphy snr will make it to the witness-box.
However, that prospect drew a stage closer last night after a late-evening hearing in which the tribunal appeared to bolt the door on media attendance for Mr Murphy's evidence. The 82-year-old millionaire's doctor and a psychiatrist were called to state emphatically that his life might be endangered by the presence of journalists when he takes the witness-box.
Evidence given by the two medical experts also seemed to stymie a compromise proposal by media organisations to relay the evidence to the press by video-link. The psychiatrist, Dr Vincent Browne, said Mr Murphy would suffer extreme stress from the presence of the media, whether their attendance was physical or by proxy.
Mr Justice Flood is due to deliver his ruling on the video-link proposal this morning, but given his own lawyers' trenchant opposition, it would be surprising if he agreed to it. Ironically, the idea of a video-link first came from the tribunal, which originally proposed to relay proceedings from Jersey back to Dublin Castle. The proposal, which was not opposed by Mr Murphy's lawyers, was dropped, seemingly for cost reasons.
The prospect of the media attempting a second challenge to a private hearing was diminishing last night. Legal sources believe the chairman is on stronger ground than he was last week. In any case, no one wants to precipitate the illness or even death of an elderly witness.
The Irish Times, RTE and other media organisations thought they had won the battle on Monday, when the High Court struck out an order by the tribunal chairman to hear Mr Murphy's evidence in private. But, after hearing evidence from Mr Murphy's GP, Dr John Curran, on Tuesday, Mr Justice Flood simply decided to issue a new order setting up a commission to hear the evidence in private.
Yesterday, however, Mr Bill Shipsey SC, for RTE and Independent Newspapers, called foul. By doing exactly what he intended last week, and for the same reasons, the chairman risked bringing the tribunal into disrepute, Mr Shipsey argued.
He asked why no independent medical examination of Mr Murphy had been carried out. The tribunal mooted this before the summer break but nothing has been heard since and Mr Shipsey was given no answer yesterday.
If Mr Murphy does finally come to give evidence, his testimony could last weeks, a prospect not exactly relished by the lawyers and journalists who have travelled here for the proceedings.
Most of yesterday was taken up by numerous breaks and delays, caused successively by a broken fax machine, a search for Mr Murphy's doctor and psychiatrist and a related hearing in the High Court in Dublin.
In the late afternoon, the High Court effectively passed the ball back to Mr Justice Flood's court by ruling that he could operate a video-link if he wished. But with Mr Garrett Cooney SC, for Mr Murphy, still implacably opposed to such a proposal, the chairman evinced no fresh interest.
It is therefore likely that the Mr Justice Flood will move this morning to set up a commission, a legal device to hear Mr Murphy's evidence in private.