The State must make a "payment on account" of €375,000 to Co Donegal nightclub owner Frank Shortt within 14 days, the High Court has ruled.
A decision on the amount of the total payment to be made to Mr Shortt should be be given on October 3rd.
Yesterday's order was made by the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan, who has heard submissions regarding the amount of compensation to be paid to Mr Shortt arising from his wrongful conviction on a charge of allowing his nightclub in Inishowen to be used for the sale of drugs.
Senior counsel Paul Burns, for the State, put it to the judge that in the particular circumstances of the case he might be disposed to make an interim payment.
Senior counsel Hugh Mohan, for Mr Shortt, said his client was in very strained circumstances and any payment would have to exceed €125,000, as he had a bank loan of that amount.
In his action, Mr Shortt (69), a married father of five, with an address at Redcastle, Co Donegal, is seeking damages for several million euros.
He had been jailed for three years on charges of allowing the sale of drugs at his premises, the Point Inn, in Inishowen, and served 27 months in jail.
Mr Shortt's conviction was in 1995 and an initial appeal by him was turned down. After his release in 1997, he pursued the matter and was allowed a new appeal.
In November 2002, the Director of Public Prosecutions informed the Court of Criminal Appeal that he was not opposing Mr Shortt's appeal. The appeal court also decided that Mr Shortt had been the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
A final judgment in the compensation claim had been anticipated last May but was deferred. In May, Mr Justice Finnegan pointed out that the case was the "first of this nature" and raised significant legal issues.
Mr Shortt was not in court when the interim award was made yesterday.