A former Coolmore Stud employee has asked the High Court for orders preventing his former employer from threatening booksellers who sell a book he wrote about the stud with defamation proceedings.

The OCI is on a journey to try and re-establish its credibility after the Rio tickets scandal, writes Daniel McConnell.

Professional and legal fees related to the special liquidation of IBRC — the Anglo Irish Bancorp and Irish Nationwide holding group — have reached over €214.5m.

The Department of Finance and agencies under its remit spent around €25.75m on legal fees last year.

Legal moves are under way in the High Court by a bank to secure the repossession of an apartment in Dublin which the bank says is owned by fugitive solicitor Michael Lynn.

The Government has launched a three-month non-statutory inquiry to uncover the full scale of Ireland’s Olympic ticket touting scandal — despite concerns that any investigation will be hamstrung by ongoing Brazilian legal cases.

A legal firm that specialises in medical negligence cases has received €11.8m in fees over two years from the State Claims Agency (SCA).

An application by the Central Bank to halt legal actions brought by businessman Jerry Beades against it, the European Central Bank, several European financial institutions and others, will be heard later this year.

A former employee at Coolmore Stud has been refused injunctions preventing its lawyers writing to booksellers and distributors alleging his book contained defamatory material in breach of the rights of Coolmore and others.

The author of a book about Coolmore Stud has claimed that the bloodstock “superpower” is trying to “suppress” sale and distribution of his work.

A Tipperary man who has written a book about his experiences working at Coolmore Stud has asked the High Court for injunctions restraining the stud seeking to frustrate sales of his book.

The Government and State agencies have paid consultants €152m for advice on the banking crisis.

The Oireachtas banking inquiry will tomorrow question former taoiseach Bertie Ahern on whether he knew Ireland’s banks were facing economic collapse before the May 2007 general election and his resignation one year later.

Cork Institute of Technology has spent almost €65,000 investigating a number of whistleblower allegations of misspending.

Roy Keane has become the latest celebrity to go to court over their image rights.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has confirmed that the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) last year paid bonuses to staff for the first time since 2012.

Swiss investment bank UBS was the big winner in fees paid out last year by Nama, as it received €3.85m from the agency.

The Department of Finance’s spend on consultants last year topped €1.898m.

The spend by the Central Bank on third-party legal services last year increased by 23% to €3.2m, or a weekly average spend of €61,538.

SITESERV can be read as the story of modern Ireland in five easy pieces, writes Michael Clifford

A state body specifically tasked with giving technical financial advice to the Government was locked out of discussions with ministers on the night of the bank guarantee, and had just “90 seconds” to raise concerns.

Daughter warns Bank of Ireland’s legal team to ‘watch yourself’

PHILOMENA CANNING has been allowed to return to work. Three weeks ago, the last time this column visited the State’s attack on Ms Canning, that phrase was hardly imaginable

The tobacco firm which threatened the State with a multimillion-euro legal action unless it scrapped plans for plain cigarette packets by Friday had yet to contact the Government over its refusal to bow to lobbying pressure last night.

Politicians have insisted Ireland will not be “bullied” into cancelling plans to impose plain cigarette packaging by May 2017, despite a multi-million euro legal threat from one of the world’s largest tobacco firms to scrap the bill by Friday.

Legislation aimed at protecting whistleblowers could prove to be a big challenge for employers, writes Kyran Fitzgerald.

A High Court judge has made orders requiring members of bankrupt Seán Quinn’s family to disclose thousands of documents to a team appointed by a receiver for a decision on whether they are relevant to the Quinns’ assets and tax affairs.

An application to remove the businesswoman Jackie Lavin from a luxury Italianate mansion, formerly owned by her partner Bill Cullen, in the heart of the Killarney National Park has been adjourned.

Bill Cullen has dropped all legal challenges that he had mounted in the Commercial Court against the approach taken by Ulster Bank-appointed receivers in selling assets of his companies.

Extremely challenging trading conditions at the Irish arm of food giant Mars last year contributed to a slump in sales and profits.

Businessman Bill Cullen has told the Commercial Court there is "no doubt" his €11.5m debt to Ulster Bank will be cleared and he became "so irritated" over the approach of receivers in selling assets of his companies that he decided to take legal proceedings.

Employment rates of solicitors at the country’s top 20 legal firms grew by 7%, or 127, last year, confirming a strong year for the largest legal practices.

The legal firm that Justice Minister Alan Shatter helped build got fees totalling €422,130 from the HSE last year.

Six legal firms shared €5.34m in fees from the Revenue Commissioners last year for services rendered, new figures show.

The Department of Finance and agencies under its control have spent more than €100m on consultants over the last three years.

Legal and consultancy firms were the big winners in the €7.6m paid out last year by the Government’s two finance departments.

Accountancy firm KPMG has emerged as the big winners in Nama work over the past three years, earning over €22.29m.

SET TO run across three top international cities showcasing some of Ireland’s hottest designers, the Arthur Cox Irish Fashion Showcase 2013 kicks off on Sep 12 in London.

The four adult children of solicitor Brian O’Donnell were required to provide statutory declarations they had no interest in their luxury home in Killiney, Co Dublin, in an effort to get their parents “off the hook” for €71m, the Commercial Court heard yesterday.

Centrica, Britain’s largest household energy supplier, picked Citigroup to advise on a potential bid for the retail unit of State-owned gas company Bord Gáis, said three sources.

Irish companies need to develop the right culture if corporate governance is to work in any organisation, according to a major new survey.

One Dublin legal firm last year received fees in excess of €2m from Nama as the bonanza for professional firms from the agency’s work continued.