Man begins court challenge to legality of promissory notes

The High Court has today begun hearing a challenge by New Beginning's founder David Hall to the legality of promissory notes.

The businessman launched the proceedings last year to stop the government paying out more than €31bn to troubled financial institutions such as Anglo Irish Bank (now IBRC) and EBS

He claims the notes issued by the Minister for Finance are void as they were not the subject of a Dáil vote.

His lawyers argue that if a section of the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Act allows the Minister to act unilaterally then the relevant provision is unconstitutional.