Gerry "The Monk" Hutch has been refused cover for his legal costs after he was found not guilty of murder at the Special Criminal Court.
The State had opposed an application for costs by lawyers for Mr Hutch after he was found not guilty by the non-jury court of the high-profile murder of David Byrne at a Dublin hotel seven years ago.
At the Special Criminal Court on Wednesday, Ms Justice Tara Burns said the court was satisfied that an unfairness did not arise for Mr Hutch in the decision to refuse costs.
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She said the prosecution against Mr Hutch was warranted. She said Mr Hutch had engaged in "serious criminal conduct" when he had possession of the guns which had been used in the killing.
Mr Hutch was recognised as the figurehead and patriarch of the Hutch criminal organisation, and the Hutch gang was responsible for the attack, she said.
She added that it would be a reasonable proposition for the prosecution that nothing of the magnitude of the Regency hotel shooting would have happened without his authority.
Earlier today, lawyers for Mr Hutch argued that he was "vindicated" by the Special Criminal Court after he was acquitted of the murder of Mr Byrne at the Regency Hotel last April and that there was "no strong, valid ground" as to why their client shouldn't be entitled to his legal costs for the trial.
Mr Hutch’s defence lawyer Brendan Grehan SC alongside Michael D Hourigan BL submitted that it would be unfair if their client, who was not legally aided, was "denied the substantial costs of defending himself from the allegation and particularly unfair if there was any suggestion that he could or would have been charged with other offences".
Mr Grehan told the non-jury court that the initial decision to prosecute his client for the offence of murder based on secret audio recordings was "a wrong decision", which had since been vindicated and can be seen in the Special Criminal Court's judgment.
"In our submission the prosecution for murder was never warranted on the audio in the context of which there were multiple matters which the court had averted to. In terms of what Mr Hutch knew or didn't know, there isn't one single unambiguous admission of involvement of what happened in the Regency through ten hours of unguarded conversation," he submitted.
The lawyer added that "it certainly was the case" that former Sinn Fein councillor and convicted torturer Jonathan Dowdall had "played his hand" to exert the maximum amount of pressure on the prosecution before giving a statement to gardai on the eve of the trial being due to commence.
"One is left wondering what the prosecution case ever was before Jonathan Dowdall came on board. Dowdall coming on board rather than strengthening what was there in any way, had the opposite effect," he added.
Mr Grehan said that Mr Hutch was acquitted of the only charge against him and that the Special Criminal Court had given detailed and very firm findings in their judgement so that no one was left in any doubt as to why it was that a particular conclusion was arrived at.
However, Sean Gillane SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), argued that it was not unfair to remind the court of some of the findings it made in relation to Mr Hutch as Mr Grehan had submitted that the court's verdict "involved some kind of vindication of Gerard Hutch".
"The court's verdict does not amount to an approbation of him or his conduct," he argued.
Mr Gillane said Mr Hutch had been associated with firearms used to carry out the killing of Mr Byrne.
"It's not a passing or glancing association. It's an involved possession and contribution to what the court found to be an orchestrated series of events to have these weapons moved," he said, adding that he was not asking the court to change its mind in relation to the verdict handed down.
Mr Gillane said it was clearly not the law that a conviction was required for an award of legal costs and that Mr Hutch had previously conducted himself in "such a way as to bring suspicion on himself".
"This was a prosecution of originally five people and four of which convictions were recorded and substantial sentences imposed and in terms of the global picture the prosecution [of Mr Hutch] was absolutely warranted," he submitted.
The barrister said this was a case where an award of costs should not be exercised in Mr Hutch's favour and urged the court not to award costs in this matter.
Mr Hutch (60) was seeking an order from the Special Criminal Court providing for his legal costs on the basis of his acquittal by the non-jury court last April. The hearing on the costs application, which the State opposed, went ahead today on the first day of the Trinity term before the three-judge court.
Last April following the 52-day trial at the Special Criminal Court, Mr Hutch was acquitted by the three judges of the murder of Mr Byrne and walked from court a free man. It is believed Mr Hutch left Ireland for Spain last month but it is unknown if the father-of-five has permanently moved back to Spain.
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