The High Court has refused an application by Colm Granahan seeking an Article 40 habeas corpus enquiry concerning three men convicted following events linked to a 2018 property eviction in County Roscommon.
Granahan was not himself in custody. He told the court he was not a solicitor or barrister and did not represent others. His application referred to Martin O'Toole, P.J. Sweeney and Paul Beirne and to events involving the McGann family at Falsk, Strokestown.
Granahan alleged that documents connected with possession proceedings concerning a Roscommon property were forged or fraudulent and claimed that the three men's later criminal convictions were therefore invalid. He also asserted that they had acted lawfully in response to the eviction.
Mr Justice Mark Heslin rejected the application.
First, the judge found a fundamental standing problem. An Article 40 application is concerned with the legality of detention, yet the application was neither made by a detained person nor shown to have been brought on behalf of one. Granahan himself was plainly at liberty.
The court nevertheless considered the substance in case that conclusion was wrong. It found that Granahan's allegations of perjury, false evidence and miscarriage of justice were unsupported by facts. Documents from civil possession proceedings could not, without more, undermine the jurisdiction of the criminal court which convicted the three men.
The judge also said that any challenge claiming a wrongful conviction belonged in the criminal appeal process, not in this application. The High Court had no jurisdiction under Article 40 to launch the independent judicial enquiry Granahan sought, strike alleged fraudulent documents from records or direct prosecutions.
The court further noted three earlier Article 40 applications made by Granahan which had been refused. Repeated applications based on the same grounds are not permissible; fresh applications require genuinely new grounds and must still be brought by or on behalf of a detained person.
The request for an Article 40 enquiry was refused.