High Court hears arguments on report

A lawyer for the Attorney General objected in the High Court to counsel representing unidentified people, named in the Ansbacher…

A lawyer for the Attorney General objected in the High Court to counsel representing unidentified people, named in the Ansbacher (Cayman) report, being allowed make applications to the court, aimed at postponing publication of the report.

Mr Feichín McDonagh SC said it would be wrong if counsel for unidentified clients were allowed apply to the court.

As the hearing proceeded, Mr Justice Finnegan heard a number of applications on behalf of unidentified clients. However, when ruling in favour of publication, he stressed he was not taking those applications into consideration.

One of the applications was by Mr Michael Collins SC, who said he represented two unidentified corporate bodies who had not seen the conclusions in the inspectors' report.

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He said the people affected must see the report in full to see if parts of it should be withdrawn.

Counsel for both the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, and the Director of Corporate Enforcement argued that the report should be made public immediately.

Mr Richard Nesbitt SC, for the estate of the late Des Traynor and a number of unidentified clients, argued that there should be an "interregnum" between the decision to release the report and its publication. His clients would be prejudiced if they did not have an opportunity to deal with matters in the report, he said.

Mr Shane Murphy SC, for the inspectors, said his clients did not have any function as to who should receive the report.

The judge said that insofar as a report suggested that a criminal offence might have been committed - and in one case there would appear to have been some illegality - the DPP would be the appropriate authority.