An application from ex-Football Association of Ireland (FAI) chief executive John Delaney for a court hearing to be held in private is being opposed by a media outlet.
Mr Delaney wants the High Court to order an “in camera” hearing when it considers whether 3,500 FAI emails seized by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) can be studied by investigators.
The former FAI boss claims the emails are legally privileged and his lawyers argue the issue cannot be decided unless some of the issues contained in the emails are aired in court.
Some 280,000 files were seized by the ODCE as part of a criminal investigation into certain matters at the FAI.
Neither the ODCE nor the FAI is objecting to Mr Delaney’s application.
However, Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds was told yesterday that the Sunday Times newspaper would be opposing the application, while RTÉ was also considering a challenge.
Mr Delaney’s application was made under the Companies Act, which says a court can direct that certain hearings can be held “otherwise than in public”.
Simon McAleese, for the Sunday Times, said it was “all very well” for the ODCE and the FAI to adopt a position of neutrality in relation to the imposition of a “very draconian” in-camera ruling as it was provided for in the Act.
“But the court has a substantial duty upon it, which has been set out in great detail by the Supreme Court, to scrutinise an application of this nature,” he said.
Mr McAleese also said he believed the application to be premature in the context of the proceedings before the court.
Paul McGarry SC, for Mr Delaney, denied it was premature.
He said that up until now his side had been proceeding on the basis its application was being unopposed.
However, Ms Justice Reynolds told Mr McGarry he should never have taken the view that it was going to be an unopposed application.
“The simple reason is the court has to take a view on it whether or not parties are neutral,” she said.
“Clearly there are very wide-ranging implications in relation to such an application.”
The judge said it was not feasible for the application to be dealt with there and then. She directed that Mr McAleese be provided with legal documents known as the notice of motion and the grounding affidavit so he could prepare his objection.
The judge said that if RTÉ or other media organisations wanted the notice of motion and grounding affidavit, then these could be supplied by her registrar.
Meanwhile, Ms Justice Reynolds will give a decision later on whether five more people can be appointed to aid an examination of the FAI documents over which claims of legal privilege have been made.
Due to the large volume of documents involved, it was proposed by the ODCE that extra resources be made available to speed up the process.
Mr Delaney left his role as chief executive of the FAI in March 2019 to a newly created position of executive vice president in the wake of revelations he provided a €100,000 bridging loan to the association in 2017. He quit the FAI the following September.
Irish Independent
Source: Irish News
