D2 Private Ltd gets permission to challenge Clerys inquiry powers

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

D2 Private Ltd was granted High Court permission by Mr Justice Anthony Hunt on 23 May 2016 to challenge inspectors’ powers to enter its premises and take documents and materials. The company and its director and owner Deirdre Foley had sought permission. The judge found an arguable case but stressed that permission did not mean the challenge would ultimately succeed.

Inspectors investigating the Clerys collective redundancies had entered the company’s Harcourt Terrace, Dublin offices with members of An Garda Síochána the previous Thursday. They took an employee’s laptop. Clerys closed in June 2015; approximately 460 people employed by the store or concession holders lost their jobs.

Counsel for D2 Private Ltd said the inspectors relied on the 1977 Protection of Employment Act and the 2015 Workplace Relations Act. The applicants disputed their powers, saying they were never the workers’ employers and had no connection with them. The court heard that the documents and computer material were outside the investigation’s remit. Counsel also raised concerns about commercially sensitive information.

Breffni Gordon, for the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, said his client opposed the application. He said the investigation was examining whether a criminal prosecution should be brought over the redundancies.

On 23 May 2016, the judge refused to return the laptop and directed the department to make a forensic copy of its hard drive. Undertakings barred interference with either pending further order and barred D2 Private Ltd from accessing the laptop meanwhile. The department had to notify the company when and by whom the copy would be made. The court heard a waiting list could delay copying for up to a year.

At the previous Friday’s hearing, the judge had accepted an undertaking that a solicitor for the department would keep the laptop without interference pending further order. The matter was adjourned for mention to Wednesday, when the new legal term would begin.

This report covers an earlier stage of the case. Later developments are not reported here.