Courts / Ireland / Report

Ruling "as soon as possible" over FAI claim of privilege

Summary

In a High Court hearing on 25 July 2019, Justice Leonie Reynolds considered the Football Association of Ireland's (FAI) claim that certain documents supplied to the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) were protected by legal professional privilege. The ODCE, investigating "certain matters" concerning the FAI under the 2014 Companies Act, asked the court to decide whether the FAI's submissions could be excluded from the probe. The documents in question include minutes of all FAI board and committee meetings from 1 January 2016 to 21 March 2019, and extracts of legal advice received by the board from interim CEO Ms Rea Walshe and from Deloitte auditors. The FAI argues that these extracts, covering advice on sponsorship agreements, potential liability, internal investigations, appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, disciplinary matters, licence applications, and audit reports, are privileged and should not be used in the ODCE investigation.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Ruling "as soon as possible" over FAI claim of privilege. Procedural stage: hearing_or_decision

When:

• January 1st, 2016 Other
• March 21st, 2019 Other
• February 2016 Other
• June 2017 Hearing Or Sentence
• December 2017 Hearing Or Sentence
• January 2018 Other
• 2019-07-25 Publication

Why: It has made the claim of privilege in order to protect the FAI's position against third parties and not the ODCE. CNI source report

Places mentioned

Topics

Stage Hearing Or Decision

Read the original CNI report