Blackrock Clinic action ‘in nobody’s interests’

A judge has warned the two “main protagonists” in a long High Court battle for control of Dublin’s Blackrock Clinic that continuation of the “negative and destructive” litigation is neither in the interests of the hospital nor the parties.

In 2014, Joseph Sheehan, co-founder of the clinic, initiated a case against Breccia, whose co-directors are businessmen Larry Goodman and Declan Sheeran, and others, including George Duffy and Blackrock Hospital Ltd (BHL), the parent company of Blackrock Clinic. BHL has said it does not want to be in the case.

Mr Justice Robert Haughton yesterday directly addressed what he described as the “two main protagonists” — Dr Sheehan and Breccia, represented by Mr Sheeran — who had both accepted an invitation from the judge to attend before him so he might address them.

In an unusual intervention, the judge suggested that the two main protagonists meet privately, with no lawyers present, to have an “open and honest” discussion about the issues in dispute. The court would do what it could to facilitate “proper dialogue”, he added.

While his job was to hear the case, he had become increasingly concerned at the “negative and destructive” nature of the litigation, the judge said. If it continued, the next stage would be expensive and long-running, take weeks and was “unlikely to end in this court”.

Before the case proceeds, the parties should “take a step back” and reflect as it was in the interests of all, including the parties and Blackrock Clinic, the dispute was concluded, he said.

Last July, the judge invited the “main protagonists” to attend voluntarily before him in the High Court so he might address them.

The case includes a dispute over the price for redemption of loans made by the former Anglo Irish Bank to Joseph Sheehan to buy shares in the clinic. Those loans were acquired by Nama and sold on to Breccia.