The High Court today heard judicial review proceedings taken by auctioneer Mr John Finnegan seeking a number of declarations to restrict the scope of the Flood tribunal’s investigation.
Mr Jack Fitzgerald SC, counsel for Mr Finnegan, told Mr Justice Nicolas Kearns, the tribunal must have a point where inquiries become irrelevant and outside the terms of reference.
He said the State by law must protect an individual from unjust attacks and vindicate his good name.
Mr Fitzgerald suggested to the High Court the tribunal had put a negative slant on Mr Finnegan by not accepting within a reasonable time-frame a document putting him in a favourable light.Mr Fitzgerald was referring to allegations made at the tribunal that Mr Finnegan had received money from the vendor and the purchaser of a sale of land at the Sacred Heart Convent in Monkstown.
The allegations arose when Mr Pat Hanratty SC, counsel for the tribunal, questioned builder Mr Tom Brennan about the Monkstown land deal. Mr Hanratty asked Mr Brennan: "Did he [Finnegan] deliver the nuns to you?"
Mr Fitzgerald told the court these allegations formed no part of the tribunal’s work. He said this allegation had been "taken up by officious bystanders" [journalists] and appeared in a number of subsequent articles.
Mr Justice Kearns was told by Mr Fitzgerald that: "Outside gross personal injury, its hard to imagine a greater harm being done to Mr Finnegan."
Mr Fitzgerald accepted the inquiry needed to investigate business links between Mr Brennan, Mr Finnegan and builder Mr Joseph McGowan but said it should be done in private and within the tribunal’s frame of reference to avoid "the damage that can be done to an individual just to eliminate them from the tribunal".
Tomorrow Mr Michael Collins SC, for the tribunal, will present his opening statement.
