Cardinal Desmond Connell has withdrawn his High Court action over the right of access to documents by the Government-appointed commission of investigation into the handling of claims of child abuse against priests in the Dublin archdiocese.
The case was before the High Court yesterday when it was expected a date would be set for the full hearing of the cardinal's claim of legal privilege or confidentiality over 5,586 documents produced to the Dublin diocesan commission of investigation following an order made by it last December.
However, when the case was called, Roddy Horan SC, for the cardinal, told Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill the case was being withdrawn. Brian Murray SC, with Pauline Codd, for the commission, applied for costs.
The judge struck out the case and granted the costs application, which was not opposed by the cardinal's side. Mr Justice O'Neill granted costs and the case was withdrawn.
An undertaking given last week by the commission not to examine the documents consequently falls given the withdrawal of the action. The commission is investigating the handling of complaints or claims of abuse against a representative sample of 46 of 102 priests found to fall within its terms of reference.
Cardinal Connell had claimed the 5,586 documents - included in some 66,580 documents handed over by his successor Archbishop Diarmuid Martin last January 15th to the commission - were either legally privileged or confidential.
He has also complained the documents which the commission has sought include documents relating to matters concerning priests outside the representative sample of 46.
The commission, chaired by Judge Yvonne Murphy, had ordered the production of the disputed documents to examine whether the claim of privilege was validly made.
In correspondence, it had expressed surprise about the extent of legal privilege claimed. It noted some of the documents related to insurance matters, including documents concerning steps by the Dublin archdiocese to put an insurance policy in place against claims of child sex abuse.
Cardinal Connell had claimed the commission had acted unfairly towards him and had not informed him about discussions with the archdiocese as to how claims of privilege should be addressed. The commission had rejected the claims of unfairness and said it was only recently that Cardinal Connell had raised a claim of personal privilege, as distinct from any claim of privilege resting in the archdiocese.
Following orders of discovery by the commission from June 2006, Dr Martin had in November 2007 sworn an affidavit of discovery listing some 66,000 documents. An agreement was later reached between the commission and Dr Martin on how documents would be assessed to verify whether privilege applied.
However, after the archdiocese was unable to reach agreement with Cardinal Connell and others on the proposed verification procedure, the commission, concerned about delay in the discovery process, ordered the production of all of the documents to assess privilege.
On January 31st last, after the commission refused to give an undertaking to Cardinal Connell's solicitor not to examine the documents pending the outcome of proposed legal proceedings, the cardinal secured leave from the High Court to bring a judicial review challenge to the handover and proposed examination of the documents.
He also secured an interim injunction restraining the commission from examining the documents. That injunction was replaced last week by an undertaking in the same terms from the commission and the matter was returned to yesterday.