A former High Court judge, Mr Rory O'Hanlon, agreed to act as a referee for the proprietor of the Aadam's agency, which offered "counselling" to women in crisis pregnancies.
Last week The Irish Times sought permission to name the agency as the one at the centre of a judgment by a High Court judge, Ms Justice Laffoy, which held that the proprietor and his wife had unlawful custody of Baby A. They had offered to adopt the baby after the mother had contacted them through an advertisement in the Golden Pages directory.
When contacted by The Irish Times yesterday Mr O'Hanlon said: "I know the person concerned and I respect him. He is a very well-meaning person."
He said he was not involved in the agency. "The man contacted me a long time ago and asked if he could use my name and I said he could." Asked if this was connected with an adoption, he said: "I think it was something like that. No one came back to me about it afterwards."
He said his advice was not sought in connection with the recent adoption attempt. "If it had been sought I would have said the proper procedures should always be gone through."
Mr O'Hanlon added that he thought the man was trying to go through the proper procedures in that he had said the adoption would go before the Adoption Board. He said he was not aware it was illegal for a woman to arrange an adoption with non-relatives. "I never read the new Act."
Asked if he considered the advertisement for the agency in the Golden Pages misleading he said: "I don't think I ever took in the advertisement."
Asked if he had had any recent contact with the proprietor of the Aadam's centre, he said: "He did ring me up a couple of weeks ago when it all broke and said it was going to court. He was anxious to get legal representation. I was never involved in the legal complexities of the case."
Meanwhile, lawyers for the proprietors have confirmed that they will be appealing the High Court decision.
It is understood that the grounds of the appeal will include a complaint that the proprietors' lawyers were not allowed cross-examine those who made the affidavits quoted in the judgment. These included affidavits concerning a second baby, Baby B, who was not the subject of the action.
They will also challenge Ms Justice Laffoy's interpretation of the section of the 1998 Adoption Act. She found that the couple at the centre of the case had the baby "as a first step in the process leading to the adoption by them of Baby A". The Act states: "No person shall receive a child for the purpose of adopting the child unless the person is a relative of the child."
According to the judgment the proprietors had maintained that they were keeping the child, not "for the purpose of adoption", but as carers until the girl had made up her mind concerning adoption. This was rejected by Ms Justice Laffoy.
The judge added a postscript to her judgment expressing some misgivings about the course the inquiry had taken. "I consider that I have decided a moot," she said. This seems to say that she decided a hypothetical point.
Lawyers for the proprietors will also be in court next Wednesday seeking the committal to prison of the editor of the Irish Independent, Mr Vincent Doyle, its chief executive, Mr Liam Healy, and Ms Eilish O'Regan, its health correspondent, for contempt of court. She was the author of an article last Tuesday on the High Court judgment which named the proprietor, his wife and a barrister associated with them.
They will also seek the sequestration of the assets of the Irish Independent as part of the same application.
The Irish Times has also learned that the legal costs of the proprietors and the girl at the centre of the case are being borne by the State. Under the Attorney General's scheme, in an action such as this, which was initiated by the Eastern Health Board, lawyers for the girl and other parties have parity with those for the EHB. The costs of the case so far are estimated at about £200,000.
This week the newspaper, Irish Family, which campaigns against abortion and divorce, named the proprietor of the agency. It said he was well known in pro-life circles.