Kerins damages case adjourned on consent at High Court

Proceedings by former Rehab CEO Angela Kerins seeking damages over her treatment by the Dáil Public Accounts Committee at hearings in 2014 have been adjourned at the High Court to next month.

Ms Kerins’s action against the Dáil and State was listed for further case management before High Court president Mr justice Peter Kelly on Monday but, in an email, the parties communicated they had agreed to have it adjourned on consent to April 20th. Ms Kerins’s action was initiated in 2014 and the first module concerned whether the courts had jurisdiction to interfere with hearings before Oireachtas Committees. In its judgment on that module in January 2017, a three-judge High Court was strongly critical of the PAC’s treatment of Ms Kerins but concluded, because of the constitutional separation of powers, the courts could not intervene.

Ms Kerins appealed to the Supreme Court which, in a landmark judgment, found the PAC acted unlawfully in its treatment of Ms Kerins in acting outside its terms of reference and of its invitation to Ms Kerins to appear before it. It granted a declaration to that effect against the Dáil and said any further dispute between the sides, including about damages, should be decided in the first instance by the High Court.

It could not be assumed there was an entitlement to damages and any such claim raised “novel” issues of law, it said. The second leg of Ms Kerins’s case involves claims for misfeasance in public office, breach of constitutional rights and damages. She wants substantial damages over her treatment before the PAC when she was questioned by some members about matters including her €240,000 annual salary and the salaries of other Rehab officials. She has described her treatment as a “witchhunt” and says it led to an attempt by her to take her own life and significant financial loss, including of her annual salary, bonuses and company car with Rehab from the time of her resignation in 2014 to retirement age. She is also expected to claim over the impact of her resignation on her pension.