The Supreme Court has ruled that the Flood tribunal should proceed without further delays, rejecting an attempt by a former assistant Dublin city and county manager to prevent it investigating, in public, allegations made against him.
Corruption allegations against Mr George Redmond should be heard in public, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday. The allegations were made to the Flood tribunal in an affidavit from Mr James Gogarty, a former executive of the structural engineering company JMSE.
In a decision which could have a marked effect on the further workings of the tribunal, the Supreme Court held there was no doubt but that an inquiry by the tribunal into the allegations made by Mr Gogarty necessarily exposed Mr Redmond and other citizens to the risk of having aspects of their private lives, which would otherwise remain private, uncovered and to the risk of having baseless allegations made against them. This might cause distress and injury to their reputations and might interfere with Mr Redmond's constitutional right to privacy, which was, however, not an absolute one. The common good might outweigh the constitutional right to privacy, it said.
"The exigencies of the common good require that matters considered by both Houses of the Oireachtas to be of urgent public importance be inquired into, particularly when such inquiries are necessary to preserve the purity and integrity of public life", the court held.
Mr Redmond, who retired from Dublin County Council 10 years ago, had appealed against a High Court decision refusing him a full judicial review of a decision by the chairman of the tribunal to hear the allegations in public.
During the earlier proceedings Mr Redmond said that Mr Gogarty had claimed to have met him twice in 1988 concerning lands at Forest Road, Swords, Co Dublin, to discuss "a mechanism to overcome the problems caused by the 1983 planning permission running out". He said that Mr Gogarty claimed there was an agreement to pay him for this advice, a claim Mr Redmond denied.
He also denied another claim by Mr Gogarty that he had received an envelope containing £15,000 at a meeting in Clontarf Castle with Mr Gogarty and three other executives from companies controlled by the Murphy Group, which included JMSE.
The High Court had granted leave for a partial judicial review on some of the grounds put forward by Mr Redmond, specifically that the tribunal was proceeding in a manner which constituted a breach of fair procedure and of Mr Redmond's constitutional rights. The High Court had refused orders which would have prohibited the tribunal from investigating allegations against him, and he appealed this refusal to the Supreme Court, which yesterday rejected his appeal.
In delivering the reserved judgment on behalf of the five judges of the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Hamilton, said that there were no grounds on which it could be argued that the tribunal had exceeded its jurisdiction or had failed to observe fair procedures. "In these circumstances this court can see no reason for delaying the work of this important tribunal which both Houses of the Oireachtas have seen fit to establish", he said.
During the High Court case Mr Redmond also argued that the planning tribunal chairman was exceeding his powers in widening the terms of reference of the tribunal to inquire into any matter relating to the planning process. This was rejected by Mr Justice Cyril Kelly.
Mr Gogarty's evidence will be heard when the tribunal resumes its hearings next Tuesday. It is open to all those adversely affected by his evidence to refute it before the tribunal.
Court report: page 9