Ryanair has lost its High Court bid to force the financial services regulator to investigate how Aer Lingus informed the Government about its decision to close its Shannon-Heathrow route.
Aer Lingus publicly announced its decision to close the route on 7 August last year.
But Ryanair, the largest shareholder in Aer Lingus, claimed the Aer Lingus Chief Executive, Dermot Mannion told RTÉ five days later that the Minister for Transport had been informed of the decision on 3 August.
It later claimed the Minister had been told as far back as 13 June 2007.
Ryanair claimed that if Aer Lingus had informed one shareholder of its decision before informing other shareholders and the public, it had breached an EU Market Abuse Directive and regulations relating to insider dealing and market manipulation.
Ryanair owns 29% of Aer Lingus, while the Government holds 25 per cent.
Ryanair asked the Financial Services Regulatory Authority to investigate the matter on 21 August and asked them to make the investigation results public.
When the Authority would not tell Ryanair whether it planned to carry out an investigation, Ryanair began a High Court challenge.
However, Mr Justice Peter Kelly ruled today that the Authority had a wide discretion whether or not to investigate any complaint.
He also ruled that it was not required to say whether or not it was investigating and that it was not obliged to make the results of any investigation public.
He also found the Authority has an option to 'privately caution' a body for market abuse.
