The High Court has struck out three cases brought by Patrick Keary against public bodies, finding that his central argument—that citizens were immune from court orders—had no legal merit. Ms Justice Butler also found the claims unstateable and bound to fail, including a case brought in breach of an earlier restriction on proceedings concerning land in County Galway.
The applications sought to strike out the cases for failing to disclose a reasonable cause of action or as an abuse of process. The judgment, delivered on 24 January 2022, addressed proceedings against the Property Registration Authority of Ireland, a constitutional action against State defendants, and a case concerning District Court proceedings.
Keary’s immunity argument relied on his interpretation of proceedings brought by Eugene Cafferky against the Director of Public Prosecutions. The judge said the available orders did not show that the DPP had been found in contempt, and that the Supreme Court’s dismissal of Cafferky’s appeal did not validate any contempt. She rejected the claim that equality before the law made citizens immune from court orders.
The property case concerned lands registered in folio 42156 at Killaclogher, County Galway, and a separate folio, GY74S. The court found the requested relief moot: Ronald Weisz had already been registered as full owner of the lands, and the appeal against earlier orders had been dismissed. The judge also found no stateable basis for Keary’s claimed beneficial interest in GY74S, which had been closed after its charges were discharged. His slander of title claim was struck out under the court’s inherent jurisdiction.
In the constitutional case, the judge found that complaints about earlier court decisions and orders sought to re-litigate issues already determined. The District Court case was also struck out. The judge said that a pending case or a complaint to gardaí did not, by itself, prevent another court from hearing proceedings or making orders.
The property proceedings had been issued on 25 October 2016, days after an order by Stewart J barred further cases concerning the lands without prior High Court leave. Justice Butler said proceedings issued in breach of such an order should generally be struck out. She did not definitively decide whether the restriction bound Keary before it was formally drawn up, but said that a person present when such an order is pronounced is bound from that point. The judgment struck out all three proceedings on other grounds as well.