The Court of Appeal declared that conclusions in Sean Guerin’s report on Alan Shatter were reached in breach of fair procedures and constitutional and natural justice. It also awarded Shatter his costs in the High Court and appeal proceedings.
In a judgment delivered on 2 March 2017, Ms Justice Irvine dealt only with the relief arising from the court’s substantive judgments of 10 November 2016. The parties agreed Shatter was entitled to the declaration. The court found no special cause to depart from the usual rule that costs follow the event.
Shatter had also sought an order quashing the report’s conclusions, an order requiring Guerin to provide the court order to An Taoiseach, and an order requiring Guerin to amend the report and provide the amended version to An Taoiseach.
The court refused to require Guerin to send the order to An Taoiseach, saying the order was a public document that Shatter could circulate himself. It also declined to order Guerin to amend the report. Irvine accepted that the report had been handed to the Government on 6 May 2014 and was no longer in Guerin’s possession or control.
On the request to quash the conclusions, Irvine said such an order would have to be directed to the Government, which was not a party to the proceedings and had not been heard. She would not make the order in the Government’s absence, as doing so would conflict with its rights to natural justice and fair procedures. The court therefore did not need to decide whether it had jurisdiction to make the proposed order.
Irvine said the court’s decision and its finding that the conclusions breached Shatter’s rights were, in the circumstances, sufficient to vindicate his constitutional rights to his good name. She did not express a view on any obligations the judgments might place on the Government or how those obligations should be met, noting that the Government had not been heard. She said Shatter could make proposals to the Government about addressing damage to his reputation and consider further remedies before a court of first instance if dissatisfied with its response.
The court favoured granting only the declaration and costs among the five forms of relief sought.