The Court of Criminal Appeal has adjourned a hearing in the first stage by Catherine Nevin to have her murder conviction declared a miscarriage of justice.
Nevin is arguing that material not given to her lawyers at the time of her trial contained information casting doubt on the credibility and motivation of key prosecution witnesses in the case.
In those circumstances, Nevin claims her conviction constitutes a miscarriage of justice and it should be overturned on grounds of those "newly discovered facts".
Nevin (55) was convicted in April 2000 of the murder of her husband Tom at their pub, Jack White's Inn, Brittas Bay, on March 19th 1996. She was also convicted on three counts of soliciting three different men to kill her husband in 1989 and 1990, six years before his murder.
Nevin is serving a life sentence on the murder charge and a total of seven years on the soliciting charges.
Her lawyer Anne Fitzgibbon today lodged the application in the Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) seeking access to the classified documents. She argued that the material was not released during Nevin's trial and included information which casts doubt on the credibility and motivation of three key prosecution witnesses - Garda informers William McCleane, Gerry Heapes and John Jones.
Ms Fitzgibbon said she believed Mr McCleane also had paramilitary connections which should have been disclosed during the trial.
The application is being taken under the Crime Procedure Act 1993 in a bid to have the conviction declared a miscarriage of justice.
The Director of Public Prosecutions is likely to oppose the release of the files, the Court was told.
The CCA adjourned the case until March 3rd when a date for a full hearing on the disclosure issue will be set.
Nevin was not in court for the hearing.