O'Brien seeking court ruling on stadium

Businessman Mr Denis O'Brien is to seek an injunction today against the Moriarty (Payments to Politicians) Tribunal in an attempt to prevent it continuing with its inquiry into his purchase of a stadium in Doncaster in 1998.

A scheduled sitting today has been deferred until September 29th following Mr O'Brien's application in the High Court yesterday. The case is due to be heard today.

The tribunal was due to hear evidence from Mr Denis O'Connor, an accountant and adviser to the former minister for communications, Mr Michael Lowry, concerning Mr O'Connor's involvement in 2002 with matters outstanding from the 1998 purchase of the Doncaster Rovers stadium.

The tribunal sat on Tuesday last, and heard a lengthy opening statement from tribunal counsel Mr Jerry Healy SC, in which he said that the tribunal chairman, Mr Justice Moriarty, had decided that the tribunal should hold public hearings into the Doncaster issue.

The tribunal intends to investigate whether Mr Lowry had any involvement in the £4 million deal which Mr O'Brien has told the tribunal is exclusively his.

The tribunal's decision follows the publication by The Irish Times in January 2003 of a letter which seems to link Mr Lowry to the transaction.

Since the publication of the article the tribunal has conducted inquiries in private, and has discovered notes from a meeting with a solicitor in London in 2002 during which Mr O'Connor seemed to indicate an involvement by Mr Lowry in the deal.

At the end of last week's opening statement, Mr O'Brien's counsel, Mr Eoin McGonigal SC, objected to the decision to hold public hearings into the issue.

He said there was a not a judge in the land who would let the matter go before a jury.