Request denied to reveal costs in High Court settlement

THE Department of Transport has turned down a Freedom of Information request to disclose the legal costs incurred by Shannon Foynes Port Company (SFPC) in its High Court settlement last October with former chief executive Brian Byrne.

Following a 14-month legal battle, the company agreed to settle with Mr Byrne and pay him a substantial six-figure sum.

Mr Byrne sued SFPC after he was suspended from duty when allegations were made against him by a haulier who is a port customer.

Mr Byrne vigorously denied the allegations.

The terms of the High Court settlement were confidential but it is believed Mr Byrne received compensation in the region €300,000.

Some sources said the settlement could have been as high as €500,000.

SFPC also agreed to pay legal costs of all parties and some legal sources put this at about €2.5 million.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, the Irish Examiner sought details from the Department of Transport of the fees received by lawyers and legal firms from SFPC arising out of the case.

In a response yesterday, Niall Curran, assistant principal at the department, turned down this request.

“There is one record relating to your request. This is an email sent to the Department by the chairman of SFPC on October 15, 2007. The email included attachments including a table titled ‘legal costs to date’. The email and attachments are marked private and confidential.”

Mr Curran said disclosure of this information would be likely to prejudice the giving of further similar information to the department and it is of the utmost importance to the department that it should continue to be provided with information of this nature.

Mr Curran said that having considered factors for and against disclosure, he was of the opinion that the public interest is on balance best served by not releasing these records.