The Taoiseach said yesterday that the courts believed significant legal and constitutional points had been raised by his challenge to aspects of the Mahon tribunal inquiries into his financial affairs.
Commenting at the end of a news conference after the British-Irish Council meeting, Bertie Ahern said: "I believe the courts have decided to hear the case in the beginning of April and they've said they believe that there's significant legal points, constitutional points, so the place to deal with it now is in the courts, so, on with it."
However, Fine Gael Senator Eugene Regan said the Taoiseach's legal challenge would delay the tribunal's work by up to six months.
"If the scheduled High Court hearing of Mr Ahern's challenge to the Mahon tribunal is heard in April there is the very real prospect that a Supreme Court challenge will be made by either party in response to the ruling. The normal timeframe for such a challenge to take place would result in a Supreme Court date in late June or early July.
"With the tribunal not scheduled to sit over the summer months, the most recent targeted date for the tribunal to finish hearing witness testimony by the start of the summer will not be met.
In fact, the likelihood is that the Mahon tribunal's hearings will not be completed before the end of this calendar year with the final publication of its findings pushed back accordingly.
"That means that the Taoiseach's strategy of frustrating and delaying the work of the tribunal by taking this legal avenue open to him will add in the region of six months to the estimated completion date of the tribunal's work," Senator Regan said.
The Taoiseach is still listed to appear before the tribunal next Thursday and Friday.
