Ditch Media gets High Court permission in ethics register case

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

Ditch Media Limited received permission to bring judicial review proceedings against Wicklow and Donegal county councils over alleged failures to maintain employee ethics registers, in a High Court hearing on 4 March 2024.

The company says both councils wrongly interpreted the Local Government Act 2001 rules for public registers of employees’ interests.

Ditch sought electronic copies; the councils offered inspection or paper copies for fees, which the company challenges as unreasonable and unlawful.

The proceedings also name the councils’ ethics registrars, and the cases were expected back before the court the following month.