The High Court has awarded costs against the Morris tribunal following the successful challenge by Labour's Mr Brendan Howlin to a ruling requiring him to provide the tribunal with confidential information.
Mr Howlin received the information in relation to allegations that three members of the Garda in Co Donegal, including two senior members, may have acted with impropriety.
However, Mr Justice Kearns placed a stay on all the orders for costs pending the outcome of the tribunal's appeal to the Supreme Court against the judge's decision upholding Mr Howlin's challenge.
In a reserved judgment last week, Mr Justice Kearns quashed a ruling made on February 28th last by the tribunal chairman, Mr Justice Morris, directing Mr Howlin to hand over all documents he had received.
Mr Justice Kearns found that the documents which the tribunal sought to have discovered were "private papers" for the purposes of Article 15 of the Constitution, which deals with the powers of the Houses of the Oireachtas to protect its "official documents" and the "private papers" of its members.
The judge also held the tribunal chairman was wrong in concluding the Committee on Procedures and Privileges was required to pass a specific motion to exercise the power to protect the private papers of members and had failed to do so.
Mr Justice Kearns also directed the tribunal to pay the legal costs incurred by the Committee on Procedures and Privileges in the proceedings.