O'Brien issues legal proceedings against Oireachtas and State

Denis O'Brien has issued legal proceedings against the houses of the Oireachtas and the State in relation to Dail comments about his banking arrangements with State-owned IBRC.

The comments, made by TDs Catherine Murphy and Pearse Doherty, followed a High Court injunction stopping RTE broadcasting information about the businessman's dealings with the nationalised bank.

Mr O'Brien's barrister Michael Cush today told High Court President Nicholas Kearns that his client wants to establish the 'correct demarcation between the role of the Oireachtas and the courts'.

He said the proceedings, which were issued today, raise important issues.

President Kearns has agreed to a preliminary hearing on July 1.

The case has raised questions about the appropriate extent of press freedom in a democratic state.

The Guardian have reported that Anne Harris, a former editor at the Sunday Independent - a newspaper in which Mr O’Brien is the largest shareholder - claimed that she was instructed that the media magnate should “not to be written about in certain ways”.

Ms Harris claimed she was told to show “sensitivity” to the major shareholder, and she was allegedly instructed that any story which cast a potentially negative light on Mr O’Brien would be referred to INM’s Managing Editor prior to publication.