A receiver appointed by Irish Bank Resolution Corporation over the personal assets of family members of jailed businessman Seán Quinn has agreed to a conditional stay on orders requiring them to hand over to him their personal email account passwords, phones and other material with a view to getting information related to their assets and financial and tax affairs.
The stay agreed by receiver Declan Taite applies pending the outcome of the Supreme Court appeal against the handover orders made by Mr Justice Peter Kelly at the Commercial Court last month. A date for that appeal has yet to be fixed.
Under the terms of the stay, the five adult children of Mr Quinn and three of their spouses – Stephen Kelly, Niall McPartland and Karen Woods – have agreed to give the various devices and other material to a company, Epsion, which will download the information, which will then be kept in a locked environment pending the outcome of the appeal.
The terms also stipulate the downloading is not to be treated as a release by the Quinns of the information outside their custody and control, for the purposes of legal privilege or as any waiver of their claims of privilege over the information.
The Quinns have agreed to provide Epsion with the passwords necessary to access the devices and their email and mobile accounts.
Martin Hayden SC, for the Quinns, told the Supreme Court yesterday of the agreement on the stay and the Chief Justice, Ms Justice Susan Denham, said the court would fix a date for the appeal when all necessary legal documents are lodged.
