The High Court has allowed an anonymisation challenge to proceed to judicial review, while stopping short of ordering that the related criminal prosecution be heard anonymously.
In a judgment delivered on 14 March 2023, Mr Justice Garrett Simons granted G leave to seek judicial review of the District Court’s refusal to anonymise the criminal proceedings. The prosecution concerns alleged public order offences, which G denies. The court’s decision was made at the leave stage, where the threshold is low; it was not a final decision on the merits of the anonymisation request.
The judgment says the case arose after G left a sleeping son in a parked car briefly while making a purchase at a shop. G said the child was well and asleep when he returned. G was then approached by two gardaí and arrested. The charges are alleged failure to provide a name and address, failure to comply with a garda direction, and threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace, or recklessness as to whether one might occur.
The judge said there was an arguable case for some reporting restrictions because the criminal proceedings related at least indirectly to the care and welfare of minor children. Correspondence exhibited by G indicated that An Garda Síochána had referred the matter to Tusla, which said it had no ongoing social work role and had closed the referral. The judge described the case as borderline: the children’s role was peripheral, and there were respectable arguments against restrictions.
The court refused G’s request for an interim order requiring anonymisation. The judge said that would effectively grant the main relief before the Director of Public Prosecutions had an opportunity to be heard. Instead, he stayed the District Court prosecution until the judicial review is determined or the High Court orders otherwise. The Director may apply on notice to set aside or vary the stay.
The judge also directed that the District Court clerk provide a transcript of the 19 January 2023 hearing, or allowed either party to arrange to obtain one. G’s separate challenge to the District Court rules governing access to digital audio recording transcripts was adjourned generally, with liberty to seek amendments and join the District Court Rules Committee and Attorney General. The judge said the current grounds did not set out an arguable case on that issue.
The District Court judge was removed as a respondent. The sole respondent is the Director of Public Prosecutions, described in the title as acting at the suit of Garda Craig Geoghegan. Reporting restrictions were already in place for the judicial review proceedings. Further directions were listed for 27 March 2023.