Minister’s Direction order facilitating transfer of shares in financial institution was not unreasonable

Financial regulation – Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Act, 2010 – making of a direction order in respect of Irish Life and Permanent Group Holdings plc by the High Court, in July 2011 – whether there was non-compliance with the requirements of s.7, or that the opinion of the respondent Minister as to the necessity for a direction order was unreasonable or was vitiated by an error of law – whether or not the situation was definitively governed by certain judgments of the Court of Justice concerning the rights of shareholders under the provisions of Council Directive 77/91/EEC – reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union for preliminary ruling pursuant to Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union – test for setting aside a direction order – request for a preliminary ruling – judgment in Kotnik – proportionality and the less onerous alternative – Jans on ‘Proportionality Revisited’, (2000) 27(3) L.I.E.I. 239 – “Theoretical” findings – alleged violation of Article 10 of Directive 2009/101/EC – alleged violation of Articles 5, 42 and 45 of Directive 2001/34/EC and alleged violation of Directive 2004/39/EC – alleged violation of the Takeover Directive – the Constitution – the European Convention on Human Rights – the Minister’s shareholding – Apple – applicants have not succeeded in demonstrating that the opinion of the Minister that the Direction Order was necessary to achieve the statutory purposes for which it was sought was unreasonable or was vitiated by legal error – application dismissed.