The Officer of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) wants the High Court to determine if documents given to it by the Football Association of Ireland contains privileged legal material.
The application relates to certain material sought from the FAI by the ODCE, which was supplied by the Association earlier this week.
The application, made under the 2014 Companies Act, comes as part of a probe by the ODCE in relation to “certain matters” concerning the FAI.
In what was a brief hearing before Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds at the High Court on Friday, lawyers for the ODCE said the application relates to “potentially legally privileged material”.
In a sworn statement to the court, the ODCE said on April 19th last it issued a notification requiring FAI to hand over copies of books and documents.
The documents sought include the minutes of all meetings of the FAI Board of Directors and Committees of the board for the period January 1st, 2016, to March 21st, 2019, inclusive.
On Wednesday, May 1st, the FAI produced the required documentation, and also placed several documents, in a separate container, which the association seeks to claim privilege over.
The ODCE now wants the High Court to determine if this material is privileged legal material or not.
The integrity of that allegedly privileged material supplied by the association has been maintained, the ODCE says in its sworn statement.
The FAI has been informed that the ODCE intends to make the application to the court, the ODCE adds.
As part of the application, the ODCE will seek to have a legally qualified person examine the material and prepare a report for the court.
Ms Justice Reynolds granted the ODCE permission to serve short notice of the application asking the court to make a ruling in respect of the material against Cumann Peile na-hÉireann, FAI.
The judge adjourned the matter, which will be next mentioned before the court on Tuesday.
A spokesman for the ODCE declined to comment beyond the court application by the State’s corporate watchdog.