ODCE court application relating to FAI documents adjourned until Thursday

An application by the Officer of the Director of Corporate Enforcement to have the High Court determine if documents given to it by the FAI contains privileged legal material has been adjourned to later this week.

The application, made under the 2014 Companies Act against the FAI, comes as part of a probe by the ODCE in relation to "certain matters" concerning the Association.

The High Court has heard it specifically relates to certain material and documents which was provided by the FAI to the ODCE last week.

The adjournment was sought by the FAI, represented in court today by Shane Murphy SC, so it can prepare a sworn statement in response to the ODCE's application concerning the alleged privileged material.

Seeking the adjournment Mr Murphy said the FAI's affidavit would "assist the court." Counsel said that FAI had provided the ODCE with the material it had requested.

The application he said relates to "a very limited number of documents" where legal privilege is claimed out of the total amount supplied.

In reply, Elva Duffy Bl for the ODCE said her client had no objection to the short adjournment.

Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds who said she noted from the papers in the case the level of co-operation between the parties, gave the FAI 24 hours to serve the affidavit on the ODCE.

The matter will be mentioned before the court on Thursday.

Ms Justice Reynolds had previously granted the ODCE permission to serve short notice of the application asking the court to make a determination if the documents are privileged legal material or not.

Last Friday lawyers for the ODCE told the High Court that its concerned "potentially legally privileged material", which was part of a series of documents given to it by the FAI.

In a sworn statement to the court, the ODCE said on April 19 last it issued a notification requiring FAI to hand over copies of books and documents.

The documents sought include the minutes of all meetings of the FAI Board of Directors and Committees of the board for the period January 1, 2016 to March 21, 2019 inclusive.

On Wednesday, May 1, the FAI produced the required documentation, and also placed several documents, in a sperate container, which the association seeks to claim privilege over.

As part of the application, the ODCE will seek to have a legally qualified person examine the material and prepare a report for the court.

The integrity of the allegedly privileged material supplied by the association has been maintained, the ODCE also said in its sworn statement.

The FAI was also informed in advance of Friday's court appearance by the ODCE of its intention to make the application to the court in respect of the documents, the ODCE said.