The Supreme Court has allowed civil cases brought by Persona and Comcast interests over the controversial award of Ireland's second GSM mobile phone licence to Esat Digifone to proceed.
The actions concern the 1995 competition for the licence, which was formally awarded to Esat Digifone in May 1996. The plaintiffs alleged serious wrongdoing surrounding the process, including improper political interference, corruption, deceit and misfeasance in public office. Those allegations remained to be proved at trial.
The High Court had struck out the proceedings in June 2007 for want of prosecution and in the interests of justice because of lengthy delays. The Supreme Court allowed the appeals on 17 July 2012. In this judgment, delivered on 17 October, Mr Justice William McKechnie explained why.
He accepted that the delays were inordinate but held that, in the unusual circumstances, they were excusable. The allegations concerned conduct which was alleged to have been covert and concealed. Closely related matters were under investigation by the Moriarty Tribunal, which itself took years to examine the award process. The plaintiffs could not rely on the tribunal's conclusions as evidence at trial, but the judge accepted that material emerging from its hearings could reasonably provide a foundation for properly particularising their claims.
Persona also had a separate ground for success. After the company changed solicitors in 2006, the Chief State Solicitor expressly consented to delivery of its statement of claim within 21 days and warned that a dismissal motion would follow only if that deadline was missed. Persona complied. The State nevertheless sought dismissal about a month later.
Mr Justice McKechnie held that reversing course in those circumstances amounted to an abuse of process.
The ruling did not decide whether the plaintiffs' corruption and other allegations were true. It meant only that the actions should not have been terminated for delay and could proceed to determination on their merits.