Nama begins court appeal against ‘public body’ ruling

The Supreme Court yesterday began hearing an appeal by Nama which centres on whether the agency is a public body and subject to public access requests for environmental information.

Nama is appealing a High Court ruling upholding a finding by the then commissioner for environmental information, Emily O’Reilly, who ruled in September 2011 that Nama was a ‘public authority’ as outlined in regulations on environmental information.

At the time, Mr Justice Colm MacEochaidh said the basis for Nama’s claim it was not a public authority within the meaning of the relevant regulations was “absurd“,