The High Court yesterday found that the former General Manager of Waterford Harbour Commissioners was not negligent in failing to raise an objection when the Commissioners in 1986 disposed of their shares in a local dredging company.

In 1988 a charge of £42,000 was raised by the Local Government Auditor, Mr John C. O'Brien, against the former general manager of Waterford Harbour Commissioners, Mr Michael Francis McQuillan. This sum represented what Mr O'Brien considered to be a loss suffered by the Commissioners when their interest in Hellebore Ltd was disposed of for less than its true value.

The company was jointly owned by the Commissioners and Mr William O'Hanlon. It provided dredging services for the Commissioners in the Waterford port from 1983 onwards. In a reserved judgment on proceedings taken by Mr McQuillan against Mr O'Brien, Mrs Justice McGuinness found the Commissioners did suffer a loss when their shares were sold for less than their true value. But the plaintiff had put forward a number of practical reasons why the course being taken by the Commissioners was the proper one to take, she said.

Mr McQuillan was not negligent in failing to raise an objection to the course followed by the Commissioners in their disposal of their shares in Hellebore Ltd, Mrs Justice McGuinness said.