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THE COURT OF Appeal (COA) has dismissed Denis O’Brien’s attempt to find out the identity of a person who commissioned Red Flag Consulting to compile a dossier of material about him.
O’Brien had appealed against the High Court’s refusal to order the public relations and lobbying firm to reveal the identity of the client.
The billionaire businessman claimed a dossier about him compiled by Red Flag for a client was part of a campaign to defame him and damage his reputation.
In its ruling today, the three-judge COA noted: “In October 2014, the plaintiff, Mr Denis O’Brien, came into possession of a USB memory stick in circumstances with which the court is not concerned so far as this discovery appeal is concerned.
“The device held a dossier relating to Mr O’Brien consisting of memoranda, drafts of a speech by a TD (Fianna Fáil’s Colm Keaveney) and media articles. He claims that the materials are of a most negative and disparaging nature.”
Red Flag Consulting denies O’Brien’s assertions. The firm counts former Independent News and Media (INM) CEO Gavin O’Reilly as one of its directors and Karl Brophy, a former INM journalist, as its chief executive. O’Brien is the chief shareholder in INM.
The COA agreed with the previous rulings in the case. It also dismissed a cross-appeal by Red Flag against orders requiring it to disclose certain documents that could reveal the client’s identity.
‘Malicious’ motives
In the ruling document, COA President Mr Justice Sean Ryan, Mr Justice Michael Peart and Mr Justice Gerard Hogan stated: “Red Flag, as a consultancy, does not have to ensure that its clients’ motives are pure, legitimate and not simply hostile or “malicious”…
Red Flag’s client was entitled to have the dossier prepared, even if this was done for the basest of motives. That in itself is not sufficient to establish a conspiracy on the part of that client or to demonstrate that Red Flag was itself a co-conspirator with the client.
“If the Dossier was actually published by Red Flag and it has defamed the plaintiff, then Mr O’Brien has his remedy under the Defamation Act 2009. But … the plaintiff is not entitled to ascertain the identity of that client by means of seeking discovery from Red Flag.”
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Shows what he knows. The reason we have too many cars on Irish roads is because the public transport systems aw not fit for purpose
@Joe x: fewer cars = more room for public transport/active transport = better public transport/active travel. Sometimes the stick must come before the carrot.
@Name not provided: but then what happens if more and more ppl get out of their cars and use public transport and get rid of the car (many of course will still keep them) but revenue for Car Tax and petrol will decrease. Our carbon credit purchase will decline yes but you can be damn sure they will increase/tax something to bring it in somewhere else!
More like empty buses tailgating each other and preventing flow of other traffic.
@Mike 100: ah right, it’s too many busses that are the problem. Not all the queues single-occupancy vehicles I see every day on my commute.
Sure in Galway the traffic is stymied with hundreds of traffic lights strategically placed to prevent the flow of all traffic in the name of cyclists .. thanks green party … wasters of the hard working taxes
@Jimmy Wallace: try commuting to WORK sometime in Galway. I don’t have all day like some to make stories up Jimmy .
@Jimmy Wallace: they love an auld conspiracy on this forum Jimmy.
Cars have become a great litmus test for determining if a public figure is a bluffer or not. Anyone who says cars are the problem clearly doesn’t know what they are talking about. Its like saying the problem with hospitals is too many sick people. Why don’t they stay at home and google home remedies.
@Keyser Söze: Perhaps a better analogy would be that 50% of car journeys are like people overloading an A&E with minor sniffles and small bruises.
Definitely true, but we need GOOD public transit in order to fix the issue. We also need AFFORDABLE housing along public transit routes. Paying 1/2 million euro for a 1-bed hovel or 2,000/month for a glorified bedsit and absolutely having to bear the extra expenses of a car and parking in Dublin during the work day is insane. We need a revolution in public transit and a paradigm shift in housing.
@Todd Hebert: Nothing will be done, because nothing is what we do best.
Almost all the hospitals are city centric,do they think all patients are capable of walking or cycling in and out .. TOTAL CRASS Thinking
@Michael James Brennan: They don’t think that, that’s why you won’t hear anyone saying that cars should be banned from accessing hospitals (feel free to tell me who does). The reality is, that many if not most people visiting a hospital can do so using public transport, walking or cycling. I visit a hospital twice a year. I do so by cycling or taking the bus to it.
Decent public transport would help….
@Tom Newell: which requires fewer cars on the road.
Wasn’t bus connects supposed to sort out a lot of this? I know that it isn’t fully implemented yet. We have no metro and not much light rail. Alternatives are few and far between. Long stretches of little investment are coming home to roost.
Improve the public transport throughout Ireland, then there might be less cars. Start with the pricing structure.
He is right,there is way to many cars on roads
Maybe if your buses were punctual and reliable, people wouldn’t need their cars
Public transport where I live us fantastic, world class
That crash on the M50, I hope no-one was injured, took 7 of them off the road.
There’s been several very progressive and smart proposals put to Government over the last decade alone that would more than help resolve this issue. Proposals such as reliable park and ride facilities based on all the main arteries leading into the city, each dotted 10km or so outside the city centre is one that would easily work if operated properly.
Others such as ways to arange and incentivise car pooling in a monetary way could also work as part of an overall strategy. But it’s obvious to see even with the Greens in and these solutions being also pro – green, there’s no appetite from Government to do anything to implement and change the situation
Just to clarify and add to my comment.. Its the amount of single passenger cars
Is that the reason they Scrapped the X21 SERVICE GALWAY DUBLIN
have your say