Jailed "Real IRA" leader Michael McKevitt has won the go-ahead to challenge the British government's decision to give the Omagh bomb victims over £700,000 to help pay for their compensation claim.
McKevitt was granted leave to apply for a judicial review of the Lord Chancellor's decision to help finance the civil claim against him and four other men from the Republic.
Speaking in the High Court in Belfast, Mr Justice Weatherup said that it seemed to him there was an arguable case over the way in which the power to fund the Omagh relatives had been exercised and whether or not it was within the legislative scheme to take such action.
McKevitt (54), from Blackrock, Co Louth, is serving a 20-year sentence in Portlaoise for running the "Real IRA", the organisation that carried out the 1998 Omagh bombing which killed 29 people and unborn twins.
He and four others - Seamus Daly, Seamus McKenna, Liam Campbell and Colm Murphy - are being sued for £14 million. The hearing has been put back a number of times, but it
is hoped to fix a date for the hearing before the of the year.
However, the court was told that even further delay could be caused by Murphy's retrial in Dublin on a charge of plotting the Omagh attack.
McKevitt's case against the Lord Chancellor and the Legal Services Commission - formerly the Legal Aid department - was based on "inequality of arms" after his own claim for £1 million in legal aid was turned down.
Frank O'Donoghue QC, for McKevitt, said over £400,000 of the £742,702 provided by the Lord Chancellor had already been paid out to the legal representatives of the Omagh families.
The judge said the full application for a judicial review would be heard on June 21st