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High Court refuses declarations sought by a businessman concerning certain utterances made in the Houses of the Oireachtas concerning private banking matters that were already the subject of a court order, on the grounds that: (a) the court had no jurisdiction under the constitution to interfere with utterances in the Oireachtas, except in such exceptional circumstances that amounted to a threat to the democratic order; (b) the court did not have the power to review the work of the Oireachtas Committee on Procedures and Privileges; and (c) the state could not be held liable for any acts of members of the Oireachtas that allegedly interfered with the courts.
Separation of powers - principle of comity between legislature and courts - utterances in the Houses of Oireachtas that, if spoken outside, would be breach of court order - private banking information - injunction obtained in April 2015 against state broadcaster - variation of injunction - declarations sought against deputies and committee - Article 15 of the Constitution - standing orders of the Oireachtas - privilege in respect of utterances in either house of the Oireachtas - Article 40, s. 3, subs. 2 - protection of good name of individual - Order 57 of the Dáil Éireann Standing orders - circumstances in which matters might be raised - utterances in May 2015 - matters of alleged public importance - whether an abuse of Dail privilege - whether courts had right to determine the controversy - confidentiality of banking customer information - jurisdiction of court to entertain review of such utterances - whether privilege was confined to a "defamation privilege" - whether a residual jurisdiction for court to intervene in exceptional cases - proceedings of the committee - whether court had jurisdiction to review the work of Oireachtas committees - complaint to Oireachtas committee concerning utterances - whether state liable for damage suffered by plaintiff who had been defamed under the cover of Oireachtas privilege -
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