Ruling expected shortly on FAI's claim that sections of documents supplied to ODCE are legally privileged

A High Court Judge said she will give her ruling regarding claims by the FAI that certain parts of documents it has given to the ODCE are legally privileged as soon as possible.

The documents form part of its probe into "certain matters" concerning the association.

In a motion, brought under the 2014 Companies Act, the ODCE has asked the High Court to determine if certain parts of documents provided to it by the FAI as part of its are legally privileged and cannot be used as part of the ODCE investigation.

Ms Justice Leonie Reynolds, after hearing brief submissions from both sides, reserved her decision on Thursday afternoon.

The Judge said she hoped to give her decision in the coming days.

Any material deemed by the Judge to be covered by legal professional privilege cannot be used as part of the ODCE's probe.

The material relates to 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.

The FAI claims privilege over certain extracts of documents generated out of these meetings, it has provided to the ODCE.

It has made the claim of privilege in order to protect the FAI's position against third parties and not the ODCE.

The items which the FAI claims privilege over includes legal advice the board received from the FAI's interim CEO Ms Rea Walshe in February 2016 over an agreement with a prospective sponsor and in November that year of the FAI's potential liability over possible and ongoing legal actions against it.

It also seeks to have legal advice the board received regarding an internal investigation and the rights of affected parties to bring appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in June 2017.

Other matters it seeks to claim privilege over are legal advice from Ms Walshe regarding disciplinary matters in December 2017 and legal advice concerning an application from one of its members concerning an application for a licence in January 2018.

A claim of legal privilege is also made over a small number of documentation from Deloitte, auditors for the FAI.