Court of Appeal must decide if warrant issued to provincial reporter was valid

Roscommon journalist Emmett Corcoran had objected to handing his phone over to gardaí investigating violence following a home repossession on grounds it would disclose journalistic sources and issuing of warrant was 'plainly unlawful', court told

Journalist Emmett Corcoran’s phone was seized as part of an investigation into violence following a home repossession at Falsk, near Strokestown, Co Roscommon, in December 2018. File picture

A High Court judge was “mistaken” in not deciding if a warrant issued for the seizure of the phone of a provincial newspaper editor was valid or invalid, the Court of Appeal has heard.

Michael McDowell, representing Emmett Corcoran and his company Oncor Ventures Ltd, trading as Strokestown-based The Democrat, said the issue of the warrant’s validity was a “critical point” the High Court left undecided and this must be adjudicated on in the appeal court.