RTÉ wants the High Court to lift the injunctions granted against it to businessman Denis O'Brien and the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation last month.

Lawyers for RTÉ said the injunctions were now pointless, as all the information that Mr O'Brien had tried to restrain was now in the public domain.

Senior Counsel for RTÉ David Holland said there was no need for the injunction at this point and no purpose was served by it.

He said the effect of the coercive force of the injunction was to "pointlessly chill the operation of the media".

He said by persisting in seeking to uphold the injunction, Mr O'Brien was seeking to maintain a "Sword of Damocles" over the entire media, and RTÉ in particular, which no other citizen has in the ordinary way.

He said a citizen received such an injunction in circumstances where it had reason to believe the media organisation in question was about to break the law.

Mr Holland said there was a point at which an injunction becomes pointless. "We are long past that point," he said.

Everything RTÉ had intended to publish was now in the public domain and there was now no valid purpose in the injunction, he said.

He added that RTÉ was aware of its obligations under general law and had behaved in an exemplary fashion.

He said when RTÉ got this information, it had not rushed to publish and had notified the parties in advance.

There was no reason to believe RTÉ would breach its obligations and no reason to keep RTE "under the cosh" of an injunction.

He said RTÉ had done nothing wrong.

Lawyers for Mr O'Brien said they were opposed to the injunctions being lifted.

Senior Counsel Michael Cush said RTE's application was "a bit too clever by half".

He said the injunction had been granted to Mr O'Brien by the court, despite what RTÉ had said about the law.

He said Mr O'Brien had agreed to appropriate variations to the orders given what had come into the public domain.

Mr Cush said Mr O'Brien had acknowledged that the script of RTÉ's proposed report was now in the public domain and could be published but he said the court's order was not confined to the script.

Mr Cush said the injunction covered confidential information in relation to Mr O'Brien's banking affairs with IBRC.

He said it was broader than the script.

Mr Cush said RTÉ had made it clear it had further information in its possession in relation to Mr O'Brien and his banking affairs and was refusing to identify it.

He said there was clearly a great deal of information out there and the worth of the injunction was that it covered not just RTÉ but anyone having knowledge of the order.

Lawyers for IBRC said information relating to legal advice it had received was privileged and should not be published.

Barrister, Andrew Fitzpatrick said IBRC was a regulated bank and had an obligation to all of its customers to keep their banking affairs confidential.

The High Court will give its decision on the application to lift the injunctions at 10.30am on Friday.