Gemma O'Doherty, who was not in court on Wednesday, has claimed that the law which prevents the third party funding of legal actions, known as 'champerty and maintenance' has allegedly been broken.

Ms O'Doherty had been given an opportunity to turn up before another judge who dealt with this case and had not done so, he said.

The court said it had been prepared to allow the Burkes to attend the hearing if they were prepared to give undertakings not to disrupt next week's hearing of Enoch Burke's case.