Mayo builders Mr Tom Brennan and Mr Joseph McGowan are facing over €2.6 million in legal fees after the chairman of the planning tribunal today refused their application for the State to pay their costs.
In his ruling, Judge Alan Mahon said both applicants had colluded "to conceal the true nature of their relationship" with former Fianna Fáil minister Mr Ray Burke and had a "planned strategy" to misled the tribunal.
Both men had been found by the previous chairman Mr Justice Feargus Flood to have given a false account of the circumstances in which they made payments to Mr Burke.
They were found to have falsely maintained that some payments to Mr Burke were the proceeds of fundraising activities in the UK and "of failing to give the tribunal a truthful account of the real purpose for which the monies were paid to Mr Burke".
Judge Mahon said the applicants had "knowingly given false evidence and had colluded with others to mislead the tribunal".
Repeating a sentiment expressed in his ruling against Mr Burke's application for costs yesterday, Mr Mahon said both men's non co-operation - while impossible to measure in absolute terms - was of such a magnitude that it fundamentally challenged the very purpose of the creation of the tribunal.
Mr Mahon said the applicants' non co-operation with the inquiry was "extensive, effectively unrelenting" and affected all the tribunal's investigations relating to the applicants and Mr Burke.
Lawyers for Mr Brennan and Mr McGowan had argued before Judge Mahon that the tribunal provided inadequate detail about the extent of the developers' alleged lack of co-operation at a special costs hearing.
Mr Mahon conceded that in the course of both private and public inquiries, there certainly were occasions when the applicants co-operated with the tribunal and provided the tribunal with truthful information.
But he said such co-operation and such truthful information was provided "in circumstances in which the tribunal was being knowingly misdirected and misled as the fundamental thrust of its inquiries - namely the source and purpose of payments made to Mr Burke".
Therefore, he concluded, "the contention that such episodes or instances of co-operation or truthful evidence justify an award of costs in respect of them is unsustainable, given the applicants' underlying and collusive attempts to mislead the tribunal".
He said the collusion found by the tribunal as against both applicants "was widespread and clearly designed to conceal the true nature of their relationship with Mr Burke and misdirecting the tribunal in its inquiries.
"The applicants provided false and misleading information and evidence to the tribunal, in circumstances where they knew the same to be false and misleading," he added. Judge Mahon said he was satisfied that it was "fair and reasonable" to refuse to award costs to Mr Brennan and to Mr McGowan.
Yesterday, Mr Burke had an application for over €10 million in legal fees rejected by the tribunal. The tribunal ruled the former Fianna Fáil minister had deliberately misled the tribunal and failed to co-operate with its inquiry.
Dublin auctioneer Mr John Finnegan, who was found to have obstructed the tribunal, and former Government press secretary Mr PJ Mara, who was found to have failed to co-operate with the inquiry, are scheduled to make representations today on their costs.
