The High Court has ordered Eamon McShane to pay the costs of the Data Protection Commission and the HSE following the failure of his judicial review challenge over the handling of a data-protection complaint.
The costs ruling follows an April 2025 judgment in which Mr Justice Barry O’Donnell refused all of the substantive relief sought by Mr McShane. His case concerned a Data Protection Commission decision on a complaint about the HSE’s treatment of his personal data.
The proceedings had begun in August 2022. The High Court later directed that Mr McShane’s application for permission to bring judicial review should be made on notice to the other parties. The DPC and HSE opposed that application, principally arguing that he had not used an available statutory appeal.
Ms Justice Bolger nevertheless granted leave in 2023 and reserved the costs of that stage. At the substantive hearing, Mr Justice O’Donnell also rejected the alternative-remedy argument. He therefore ruled that Mr McShane should not have to pay the costs generated by the contested leave application. But because Mr McShane ultimately failed on every ground for which leave had been granted, the court did not award those costs to him either.
The position was different for the main case. The judge found that the DPC was successful overall, despite criticism in the April judgment of aspects of how its decision had been expressed. Those criticisms concerned matters outside the grounds on which Mr McShane had obtained leave and did not justify departing from the normal costs rule.
The court also rejected an argument that the case warranted special treatment as public-interest litigation. It found the issues were primarily specific to Mr McShane’s circumstances and were resolved largely by established principles.
The HSE was also awarded its substantive costs. The court said it had been joined by Mr McShane, was a necessary party and had participated in good faith with focused and helpful submissions.
The amount of those costs remains to be agreed or, failing agreement, formally adjudicated.