The High Court will rule today on a case in which the State is being sued for damages by a family who claim they had to leave their home in Co Kerry because gardaí allegedly told the media that their nephew, a convicted rapist, was living with them.
Alan Gray, his wife Phyllis and their son Francis, Drumalee Road, North Circular Road, Dublin, claim their constitutional rights to privacy were breached when gardaí leaked to the media information that a relative, James O'Donoghue, a convicted sex offender, had been living with them in their then Co Kerry home.
Mr O'Donoghue lived with them for five weeks in 1999.
The State denies the claims.
The court heard the Grays and their five children moved to Ballybunion in 1995 under the rural resettlement scheme.
In February 1999, Mr O'Donoghue, a nephew of the Grays, went to stay with them. Mr O'Donoghue had just been released from prison after serving 10 years of a 12-year sentence for rape. He had previous convictions for robbery and indecent assault.
The Grays claimed gardaí had leaked information about Mr O'Donoghue residing with them to the media and they were shunned by the local community.
Mr Justice John Quirke will give judgment in the case today.