Minister granted leave to challenge striking out of Clerys charges

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection was granted leave to seek judicial review of the decision to strike out charges against Deirdre Foley, Mark Redmond and OCS Operations. The proceedings were reported on 23 April 2018.

The three had faced charges under the Protection of Employment Act over alleged failures to consult employee representatives, supply them with relevant redundancy information and notify the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in writing on 12 June 2015, the day of the Clerys takeover.

In March, Dublin District Court Judge John Brennan granted a defence request to strike out the charges because the prosecution had failed to comply with a disclosure order. At the review application, the department’s senior counsel, Padraig Dwyer, submitted letters which he said showed that the prosecution had complied with disclosure requests.

Judge Seamus Noonan granted leave to apply for a review of the District Court decision. The application was made without the other parties present, and the case was listed for a further High Court hearing on 26 June.

Foley had also faced a charge of impeding a Workplace Relations Commission inspector. That charge was withdrawn in December.