The High Court refused RTÉ’s motion to inspect four categories of documents held by An Garda Síochána, upholding the Commissioner’s claim of public interest privilege. The motion arose in defamation proceedings brought by Edward Keating over a 2001 Prime Time programme. The court’s ruling concerned inspection of the documents; it did not determine the underlying defamation case.
Keating alleges the programme portrayed him as a Garda informer and “criminal insider” who also took part in unlawful activity, and identified him by name and a partly visible image. RTÉ admitted broadcasting the programme and pleaded justification. The broadcast investigated drug importation and related activity in 1995 and 1996. After Gardaí requested removal of Keating’s name and images, an announcement about late changes was made before transmission.
In 2008, the High Court ordered discovery from the Garda Commissioner of documents created before the broadcast. The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by the other non-party, the Revenue Commissioners, in 2013. The present motion followed after the Garda Commissioner listed four categories of documents over which public interest privilege was claimed: reports and correspondence concerning a fact-finding mission into alleged improprieties in Cork drugs and firearms cases, and diary and notebook entries of a detective chief superintendent. The defendant sought inspection; the Commissioner maintained the privilege claim.
RTÉ argued that the events were old, no one had been charged or tried in connection with them, and disclosure would not reveal Keating’s location. Keating’s solicitor said he had entered the State’s Witness Protection Programme after the broadcast and that the threat to him remained serious. The Garda evidence said Keating and his family were no longer programme participants, but security arrangements continued for his visits to Ireland. The judge accepted that his safety remained at risk.
The court said privilege had to be assessed in the circumstances of the case and that the party asserting it had to establish its claim. It weighed the documents’ potential relevance to RTÉ’s defence against the public interest in crime prevention and detection, the confidentiality of Garda methods and the programme’s integrity. It concluded that inspection would undermine the Witness Protection Programme and could disclose sensitive information or put people’s lives and wellbeing at risk. The court therefore refused the inspection sought. It made no finding on whether the programme’s allegations about Keating were true.