Action ‘cannot proceed’ if costs order granted

A sister and niece of Dana Rosemary Scallan will be unable to proceed with defamation actions against her if the court requires them to provide security for her legal costs.

If the High Court grants Dana orders requiring Susan Stein and Susan Gorrell provide the €425,000 security sought by Dana, their cases will be at an end. Their counsel Jim O’Callaghan said: “The objective here is to try to kill the proceedings.”

Counsel said security for costs should be refused on grounds including Dana has no strong defence to defamation, the cases are in the public interest, and his clients had put “after the event” insurance cover in place which would meet Dana’s costs and expenditure, estimated by the plaintiffs at €165,000.