‘Overwhelming’ interest in Irish Nationwide inquiry

There is an “overwhelming” public interest in an inquiry into the collapse of Irish Nationwide Building Society which left the country with a “colossal” financial liability estimated at €5bn, a High Court judge has said.

Mr Justice John Hedigan made the remark when dismissing a challenge by John Stanley Purcell, a former director, financial controller, and secretary of INBS, aimed at stopping the Central Bank’s proposed administrative inquiry over past conduct of the society’s affairs by those concerned with its management.

The fact the collapse of INBS left this country with a “colossal” liability was alone enough to outweigh Mr Purcell’s claim that the inquiry imposed a burden on him disproportionate to the public interest in inquiring into that collapse, the judge said. The public interest in knowing what happened is “overwhelming”.