The High Court has ordered discovery of documents concerning the basis and terms of the Public Accounts Committee’s examination of former Rehab Group chief executive Angela Kerins, in her judicial review challenge to the committee’s actions.
In a judgment delivered on 8 May 2015, Ms Justice Kennedy granted discovery of documents in categories one, two, four and five of Kerins’s application. She found those materials relevant and necessary to assess the factual and evidential basis on which the committee acted, including whether it had jurisdiction and whether its conduct affected that jurisdiction.
The records covered how the committee identified the subject of its examination, the documents and discussions considered when deciding to investigate Rehab Group payments, the basis for seeking to compel Kerins to attend, and records of committee meetings since 1 December 2013 that discussed Rehab, Kerins, payments or her attendance as a witness.
The ruling concerns discovery in the ongoing judicial review proceedings. It does not decide whether the committee acted lawfully or had jurisdiction to examine Kerins. The judge said those issues would be determined at the substantive hearing.
Kerins had sought orders including prohibition or injunctive relief, removal of references to her from the committee record, declarations concerning the committee’s jurisdiction and the fairness of its procedures, and damages. Those are claims she brought; the discovery judgment did not determine them. The respondents opposed the discovery application and maintained that the committee had jurisdiction under Dáil Standing Order 163.
The judge adjourned consideration of category three, which sought records of legal advice, until after the court determines the initial issue of alleged unlawfulness. She declined to order discovery of categories six and seven, finding them unnecessary because they were superfluous to categories one and two. Category eight was also refused as it overlapped with category four.
The application arose from the committee’s hearings on 27 February and 10 April 2014. Kerins alleged that the first hearing involved seven hours of hostile questioning on matters outside the notified subject and that it affected her health. The judgment records that she was unable to attend the April hearing due to illness; the committee then sought certification to compel her attendance, but that request was refused in July 2014.